Chapter 18
The next morning after luncheon Spiller, Larkspur and Arrietty packed up their things. Spiller had a last talk with Halberd and Hemiola about taking a run down to Little Fordham for the summer. He promised to come back soon. They hugged him and gave him some more messages for Lupy and Hendreary, Sateen and Daubery, and told him to take care of himself, that they would see him soon.
Spiller assured Hemiola as they said their final goodbyes that they didn't need much food. A bit of bread and banana would do them. Once all goodbyes had been said they set off for the boat. They all talked about what a nice visit they'd had until they had gotten almost halfway. They stopped them under a bridge for a quick cold supper and then set off again. Just before they arrived it started to rain and Spiller made a decision.
"We'll leave everything. We don't need in the boat again until we see how things are at the house. Burgonet and I can come down and get the rest later. Have you got your packs arranged properly?" Spiller asked. The girls assured him that they did. Then they rushed for the house.
When they slipped in Spiller showed Larkspur his little room and resigned himself to a night on the floor so the girls could have the bed. They dropped off all their personal things, dried off as best as they could and then they headed down to the gate. Spiller pressed down on the safety pin latch and let it up. The girls went through the gate and waited as he closed it, carefully reclosing the pin. Then, taking Arrietty's hand he said, "Let's go see what we can see."
Burgonet and Arista were in the kitchen, and she was holding a small bundle. Borrowers tended to hold their babies more than humans and nurse them on demand to keep them from crying and causing the humans around them to notice something so this did not surprise any of them. Burgonet looked up when Spiller stepped into the room, and rose quickly.
"Spiller! Where in the world have you been? We were wondering if we'd ever see you again!" He came over quickly to shake his friend's hand.
"Here and there," Spiller said with a grin, and then jerked his thumb back over his shoulder.
"Brought Arrietty and my sister, Larkspur, with me. Hope that's all right."
Larkspur's existence caused the kind of commotion that they were all getting used to. Even Arista rose at that news, and came to hug Spiller, Arrietty and Lark, her baby tucked into one arm expertly. "Now you must meet our Benison. Isn't he beautiful?"
Spiller stuck a finger out and the baby grabbed it. He was beautiful, with fat cheeks, long hands and feet, nice and round and ruddy. "Hallo to you!" Spiller said, and then got crowded out by the girls who exclaimed over the baby.
Burgonet hurried to get tea for everyone, and he and Spiller drank it while the girls took turns holding the baby and asking questions. The gynecological discussion was not Spiller's particular cup of tea so he redirected the conversation by admiring the little outfit the baby was wearing and asking if that was one of the little gowns Miss Menzies had made.
When Arista said it was, Spiller said, "We're going down to Little Fordham when we get done here. We've not been there in an age either." He started apologizing then to Arista and Burgonet for being gone so long. He told them about his broken leg and how his sister had found him and he her. Arista thought that was a thrilling story and said so.
"I was worried to death about him," Arrietty exclaimed, getting up to help Arista fetch some ginger biscuits to go with the tea while Larkspur took a turn holding and cooing over the baby. "I thought I'd lost him, I was that worried."
"I'm sure you were," Burgonet said. "We were. We didn't expect you to stay away so long. You said you'd come in the spring after the baby was born but Benison is almost four months old! We were afraid something serious had happened."
"Have you made all of your wedding plans yet? You aren't married yet, are you?"Arista asked, as she sat down at the table. She reached for her baby so that Arrietty and Larkspur could have a biscuit and drink the tea.
"No, not yet. We're looking at June, after my birthday," Arrietty said. "Mother and Papa are finally on board with it or at least they seem to be. That's a relief. Mother keeps pushing it back but we'll get to it this summer."
"I hope I can see it," Larkspur said dreamily. "I'd like that. I've missed so much of my brother's life. Now that I've found him I want to part of it all."
"Maybe," Spiller said. He looked at Burgonet. "You've got to help me bring in the things from the boat. Pod sent new shoes, Lupy sent honey, and I've got some flour from the mill for you."
"Let's do that now," Burgonet replied, "seeing as it's starting to get dark."
When they went off, Arrietty began to quiz Arista extensively about childbirth and baby care and listened very carefully to her every word in reply.
"Do you really want to start having babies right away?" Larkspur asked dubiously. "You don't seem to be very settled yet, and frankly, I don't see my brother settling down for good even when you do marry."
Arrietty shrugged and poured some more tea. "If we're meant to have one, we will."
"Thank goodness Benison isn't feeding so often anymore," Arista said. "Over the last few months I think his stomach has grown bigger. He seems to be able to take in more milk during a feed so he doesn't need to feed as often. He was eating every couple of hours at first, but now he's down to just four feeds or five a day, but he's still gaining weight. I'm even debating whether or not to start him on solid foods."
"He's so small, though," Arrietty exclaimed.
"Oh, he's much bigger than he was and he's starting to drool so we think he might get teeth soon. When he does that we'll give him real food. He's really grown a lot. His neck is getting stronger. When he was born he was so floppy we were terrified at first when we held him. Now when I put him on his tummy he can even push himself up. He lifts his head and shoulders, using his arms for support, trying to get a better view of what's going on around. He's very curious."
"He's quite lovely," Lark said sincerely. "I remember when my sister Orlaya was born. She was almost that beautiful, but not quite." She sighed. "I missed everyone so much for so long. It was hard not having any family and spending so much time alone. Finding out I still had a brother was the most exciting thing that ever happened to me!"
"I'll bet it was!" Arista exclaimed, and began to ask questions about Spiller's recovery.
Spiller and Burgonet were making trip after trip to the boat. It was cloudy and they expected more rain at any time, so they wanted to get everything into the house as soon as possible. They'd haul a few things up and put them into the hallway, then go back down for another load. Burgonet was perplexed by the sight of Arrietty's luggage when Spiller pointed it all out and told him he could leave that aboard.
"She wanted to get as much out of the mill as possible," Spiller said ruefully. "We're going to take it down to Little Fordham and set up our main base there."
Burgonet shook his head as he lifted a bag of flour and set it on his shoulder. "I know Arrietty likes it there and likes that Miss, but that's not a good place to be in the winter. What about some of those houses you've told me about along your drain? You'd be close to her cousins, not far from Daubery and Sateen, or even from the mill. Wouldn't one of them do for the winter?"
Spiller considered this. "Maybe. I'll give it some thought. I just want the wedding over with and Lark back home. I promised to take her around to see other borrowers and she's having a grand time after having been alone so long, but she needs to go home. Her human probably wonders what happened to her by now." He told Burgonet about Alice on the way back to the house.
With Arrietty and Larkspur to help, Arista cooked them a feast that night. They had rolls and butter, roast chicken, fresh baby peas from the Vicar's garden, and strawberries with whipped cream. Lark had spent more time playing with the baby than cooking, but Spiller was encouraged to see that she was getting a little more comfortable around a stove. At least when Arista went to feed the baby Arrietty got her to check the chicken as it warmed in the stove and stir the peas.
After they ate, they all sat on the parlor floor around the baby, who watched them from a rag rug in the middle of the floor and played with rattles they offered him, designed from various bits of scrap. Arista had made him a soft, stuffed dog and he liked to hug that as he gazed from face to face with wide eyes.
When it got to be bedtime it was raining very hard outside. They could hear it all the way down the hallway and see occasional flashes of lighting through the cranks around the entrance when they glanced down the hall. Arrietty gave Lark the whole bed, and using her blanket and Spiller's quilt, made up a nice bed for them both on the carpet. Lark watched them for awhile when they had fallen asleep to the sound of the drumming rain and smiled at the way Arrietty leaned against Spiller's arm, and how he turned his head to rest against her long hair. Larkspur really was happy for her brother, and drifted off to sleep wondering what it would be like to be an aunt. She had fallen completely in love with little Benison.
The day they left for Little Fordham it was drizzling in the morning, and then began to rain again. They actually left earlier than Spiller normally would since he decided no humans would be out in such weather. Arista and Burgonet tried to convince them to stay another day to see if it would clear up, but Spiller shook his head.
"Need to get going," he said firmly.
Arista and Burgonet packed them some food but the trip went faster than anyone had expected due to the rushing water. It was usually two days if the river was running good but it was moving very fast at that point and they made very good time. Arrietty and Larkspur were grateful for the new canopy on the boat and felt sorry for Spiller who got soaked to the skin steering the knife box along. When he finally pulled into a sheltered spot for the night he was cold and tired. Arrietty wrapped him in a blanket, Larkspur passed him some food, and he fell sound asleep soon after eating it wrapped in sheep's wool.
"How much further?" Lark asked, looking out at the rain.
"We might make it by tomorrow night," Arrietty answered softly. "I just hope the river doesn't get too high." But it did get high, much higher. The rain finally stopped about nightfall the next day, just as they pulled up to Mr. Pott's shipping dock, which was almost swamped by water. Spiller loosened the boat with extra long ropes once they had it unloaded so if the water kept rising, the boat would be able to rise and not be sunk.
"Where to?" he asked wearily when they and what cargo they needed for the night was out of the boat. "Know you like Vine Cottage best but it's farthest away. Crown and Anchor would be closer."
"The Crown is fine, for now," Arrietty assured him, so they set off. The grass was dripping wet and the paths were sodden. The train tracks sat in huge puddles. Spiller was glad when they finally staggered into the Crown, which delighted Larkspur, who hadn't been able to see much of the village in the dark.
She found the pub amazing with all of the small tables, chairs and glasses. The cunning stove and running water in the sink astounded her. The little back bedroom, she agreed, must have been practical for Spiller when he was going in an out at hours when Pod and Homily were living there, and the three upstairs bedrooms and the little workroom were lovelier than she had ever imagined they could be.
"I can just picture Pod there in the workroom stitching on a boot," she said, "but where do you want me to sleep?"
Arrietty took her back to Pod and Homily's old room so she could arrange her things as Arrietty checked the pantry and Spiller attempted to get a fire going in the stove. There was some wood in the house, just enough for them to get out some stored tea and have a hot drink before bed.
Arrietty had hoped Spiller would stay with her in her room, but he slept in his old room off the kitchen saying he needed to keep an eye on the fire until it burned out. She suspected though that was just an excuse and was a bit put out but she didn't want to put any pressure on him. She fell asleep like a snuffed candle anyway. It had been a hard few days with all the rain.
When she got up the next morning, got dressed and went downstairs he already had got the fire going again, had made tea and was standing with a cup looking out the window. "Miss Menzies is sitting over there by the tree. Not sure what she's sitting on, but she's sitting there looking at the pub as cloudy and wet as it is. She must know we're here."
Arrietty, pouring her own cup of tea, said, "Oh, what fun! Let's go say hello to her."
She and Spiller walked out, still holding their mugs of tea, and went over to the tree. Miss Menzies looked up, her eyes sparkling, and said, "I saw smoke coming from the chimney when I went home last night and again this morning. I so hoped you two were back!"
"We're back, and my sister is visiting too," said Spiller. "You haven't met her yet. Her name is Larkspur. She's never been here before."
"Can I meet her, or would she be afraid?" Miss Menzies asked, eagerly, clasping her long, thin hands in delight.
"I think we can work something out," Arrietty said, grinning, "but if you saw our smoke last night, you must have been going home awfully late. What were you up to?"
Miss Menzies arranged her legs a bit better on the square of oilcloth she was sitting on and her whole face lit up. "Dear Aubrey's son-in-law is going to work at the signal box. I think I told you that. So his daughter and her husband were looking for a place to live nearby. When I asked Abel if he had any ideas, he told me I should let them have my house and we should get married! So that is what we are going to do. We've been making plans!"
Arrietty almost danced with delight."I think that's wonderful! I am so happy! I wish I could see it. When is it? Spiller and I are planning to have our wedding this summer."
"I was so surprised it took my breath away!" Miss Menzies exclaimed.
"I'm not," Spiller said, but she just shook her head at him and went on.
"I'm not giving them the house, mind you. They're renting it furnished, but I do have to clear out a bit. It's much too cluttered for a family with a young child. The furniture and kitchen things are fine and my poor old dog died over the winter so that's one less thing I have to worry about. I do miss Scrap terribly but arthritis was starting to be a problem for him and I certainly didn't want to see him suffer. I decided to only keep my favorite dollhouse from Papa in the attic. All of the other miniatures I had stored away and some of my linens and things I've been using to make things for houses here. I've already done up the vicar's house and that one cottage in the back that Abel always called Dovecote."
"Maybe Halberd and Hemiola would like that," Spiller interjected.
"Oh, yes, how are they, and how is the couple that was having the baby?" Miss Menzies asked, interestedly.
"They had a boy and he's about four months old now. He's adorable," Arrietty said. "We went to see them before we came to see you."
"I wish I could see a borrower baby," Miss Menzies sighed. "Do you think you could ever get them to come and visit?"
"I'm not sure," Spiller admitted. He looked back at the pub and saw the curtains move. There was a face peering out of the window. "Larkspur is up."
Miss Menzies looked at the pub. "Why don't you all come to breakfast? I'm getting cold sitting on this damp ground and I need a cuppa myself, plus I have so much to tell you. There's something extra special I want to show you, too."
"Haven't you and Mr. Pott already had breakfast," Arrietty asked, puzzled.
"He had a bite when he got up," Miss Menzies explained, rising fluidly from her piece of oilcloth. "He's been up since five walking around trying to see how much damage the rain did. It looks like it's not done yet. I'm sure he could use something else now." They all looked at the sky and noticed dark clouds moving back in.
"I am so sick of rain, but breakfast would be nice! We'll meet you at the house in a bit," Arrietty told her, and Arrietty and Spiller headed back to the Crown.
Larkspur was happy to see them. "I was so worried. I didn't know where you were. An old human walked behind the house awhile ago. I wasn't sure if that was your Mr. Pott. He was walking with an odd gait but I couldn't see his leg clearly so I didn't know for sure."
"That was him," Arrietty said. "He's checking storm damage. It looks like we're in for more rain. Miss Menzies invited us to breakfast. She had the most exciting news! They're going to marry!"
"Doesn't surprise me," Spiller said, folding his arms akimbo. "I've never see two people, human or borrower that suited each other better. Come on, Lark. You can meet her. Food'll be good. I promise."
The food was very good, scrambled eggs, sausage, fried potatoes and more tea. Miss Menzies was very gentle with Larkspur. When she turned her back to put away some leftovers Larkspur whispered, "She reminds me of Alice! She's so tall and thin and has such long hands. She's almost like a large borrower."
"She really is," Arrietty whispered back. "We've always thought so!"
Miss Menzies was disappointed that Arrietty had no firm wedding plans, but had to admit she didn't either. "Once we get things sorted out we'll just go over to the registry office, I suppose. Arrietty, can you please give me one of your dresses to use as a pattern? I have so many scraps of material I'd like to use up. I'd love to make you some things with them.
"I suppose," Arrietty said doubtfully, "but I really have ever so many clothes right now. I have a whole boxful of them the boat that we have to move up to the Crown."
"Oh, go with Abel. Don't carry them yourself. He can get that for you. He'd be glad to help. What about you, Larkspur? Is there anything I could make for you? You seem to be about Arrietty's height, just a little thinner. I have to do something with all of this material before I move out of the house."
"I'd love to have something you made for me. You're very talented! I saw the clothes you made for Arista's baby. I thought they were wonderful," Larkspur said, "but I don't think I'm going to be here very long. Spiller has to take me home soon. Perhaps he can bring it to me later, though. I do have a dress that Arrietty gave me that she outgrew that fits me fairly well. I could leave that one with you."
"Please do," Miss Menzies said. Then she began to tell them about some other plans they had for the railway. "We wanted to be open by now but this rain has made a mess of things. Abel is hoping to test the trains tomorrow to see what shape they're in, if the rain only holds up long enough." She looked at Spiller. "Perhaps your sister would like a ride?"
"I'd like that very much!" Lark exclaimed.
"Now," Miss Menzies said briskly, "even for a short visit you'll need some provisions. Arrietty, come with me to the pantry and tell me what you want. Then I'll drop it all off by the back door of the cottage for you."
While they were doing that, Mr. Pott came in, stamping his good foot on the floorboards and wiping the mud off it on the mat by the back door." He as just about to take off his mackintosh when he saw Spiller and his eyes twinkled. "Back again at last? Margaret has missed you lot. Who's that with you? I can see it's not Arrietty. Find yourself a new girlfriend, Spiller?"
"Certainly not," he said, insulted. "This is my sister, Larkspur. I brought her to see the village and the railway."
"I'm going to run the trains tomorrow if there's a break in the weather. Speaking of which, it's starting to drizzle again, and I expect it to start raining harder soon. I saw your boat by the custom house. I was afraid it was going to get swamped back there, so I moved it up out of the water and over to the other side of the building. I'll put it back in the water for you when you're ready to go but I'd advise holding up for at least a couple of days. The whole dock is going to go under if this rain keeps up."
"We need to unload it," Spiller said. "Can you help me with that? If I tell you what we want to move to the village will you help me take it to the Crown?"
"Let's do that now," Pott suggested. "Glad I didn't take off my coat and my boot. Please excuse us, Miss. Have yourself some more tea and we'll be back shortly. Spiller, if I take a basket and an umbrella will you be all right?"
"Can do," he said. "Just give me a minute to climb in."
Larkspur stifled a scream when Spiller hoisted himself over the side of the market basket but Spiller seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing. Miss Menzies looked out from the pantry as this was going on, and gasped, too.
"Abel, I thought you promised never to pick them up! Where are you going?"
"All's well, my dear. We're just going down to the dock to unload Spiller's boat and see to it. He's fine."
Spiller poked his head out. "Don't worry," he said, and Miss Menzies shook her head and went back into the pantry.
As Pott stumped along the path, he said to the basket, "You really are all right, aren't you? You ain't getting too wet?"
"Right as rain, if you can call this much rain right," Spiller answered, shouting to be heard over the wind. "Hear congratulations are in order."
Pott chuckled. "When my wife died, I never thought I'd ever consider having another but Margaret and I just seem to fit. I don't think my first wife would mind. She'd understand and want me to be happy."
"'Course she would," Spiller assured him.
"Land sakes, what have you got in here anyway?" Mr. Pott said when they reached the boat and Spiller boarded and began to shift things around.
Spiller sighed. "Those are mostly Ari's things that she wants to store here. They aren't all mine, believe me." He began to hand out piles of things to Mr. Pott, who tucked them into the basket. "That should do it."
"I'll take them back to the Crown for you and then we can go back to the house," Mr. Pott assured him "Is it all right that I moved the boat here?"
"As long as I can get it moved back in a few days," Spiller answered.
"Why don't you we get Arrietty and your sister and I'll see if the trains are working before it starts raining. It is going to rain again and I want to keep an eye on the lines. Handsome woman your sister. I hope she enjoys the trains."
"I think she will," Spiller said as he climbed into the basket. Once they got back to the Crown and Spiller dragged everything into the kitchen that needed to be put away, they went back to the house, where the women were all laughing uproariously. Larkspur's face was bright red and she was hunched over and holding her stomach she was laughing so hard.
"What's so funny?" Spiller asked, bewildered.
"Miss Menzies wrote another book about fairies and it's just amazing," Lark wheezed as she pointed. "She says that she's sold more copies of this one than any other one she's ever done. Wait until you see it!"
Miss Menzies was wearing the most mischievous smile Spiller had ever seen on her so he didn't know what to expect. He walked over to where the book was lying on the floor. On the cover he saw his own face, and Arrietty's. The drawings were nigh onto perfect. His mouth was turned up into a v, and his black eyes and tousled hair looked back at him from the cover. It was eerie in a way, and disconcerting. His tunic and trousers were fairly well illustrated, too. He even had bare feet and had a bit of mud on them. He was standing in front of some tall grass dotted with flowers looking down at Arrietty. She was sitting on a rock looking back up at him wearing a blue dress and white boots. Her hair was long and free behind her and she was wearing a big bow on top of her head and a merry smile. The only thing odd about them was that they had wings.
He looked up shocked. "You drew pictures of us to illustrate your book and made us into fairies?"
"It's not just that," Larkspur hooted. "It's your story, how you lived all alone in the wild, and then met Arrietty and fell in love, and in the book you wind up married."
"Oh, great," Spiller said, rolling his eyes. "Enough people already think borrowers are fairies. Now it will get worse."
"And now you'll have to marry me," Arrietty giggled. "You don't want to spoil the ending, do you, Spiller?"
"Never mind the book. I don't want to spoil my own. However our stories end, Ari, they need to end together, but I never expected to see the likes of this in my life!"
"Please say you're not angry," Miss Menzies said hurriedly. "It really is doing very well. I'm so pleased about the reception it's gotten. I'm going to use some of the money for more trains. We might even buy the land to the north of us and expand the village."
"Glad for you, I am," said Spiller with a sigh, "but I'm not sure if I like all of those human children knowing what we look like. What if we're seen?"
"I wouldn't worry about that. You're never seen unless you want to be," Ari argued, "and if the children go and tell their parents they've seen the fairies in the book what do you think they'll say anyway?"
"That they have good imaginations?" Mr. Pott put in, thumping over to a chair and sitting down with his wooden leg stretched out before him. He squinted down. "Might be a good thing, Spiller, looked at it the right way. No one will believe the poor tykes but they'll probably be charmed."
"Perhaps." Spiller walked over to where Miss Menzies had laid the book on the floor, and while she got Mr. Pott some tea, Arrietty and Lark turned the giant pages and showed it to him, with Arrietty reading out some of the bits she liked best.
"I have one more surprise for you," Miss Menzies said, reaching into her pocket. "This is your copy, Arrietty, for you and your children, and I hope your children's children, to remember me by." It was a miniature version of the book that looked exactly like the large one. Miss Menzies had drawn, written and bound it with special care. Arrietty was very, very touched and hugged it close to her chest.
"I'll keep this forever," she assured her human friend.
"Now, before you females go all sappy on us, when I get done with my tea how about a train ride before it starts to rain again?" Mr. Pott said. "The tracks go through a few puddles, but it doesn't look like anything got washed out. That way Miss Larkspur can get a ride and a view of the whole town at the same time."
She did get a view of the whole town and loved it. Miss Menzies went with them to the miniature Crown and Anchor to drop off a large assortment of food and cleaning supplies for her small guests to use during the course of their visit. Ari and Lark gave her the dresses she had requested and then they all went to the station so the borrowers could board the train.
While it went around and round, Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott walked along the tracks and watched carefully to see it there were any problems. There were not. Everything was as wet as it could get, but nothing seemed to be suffering any water damage. It was just a very wet spring and that was that.
Spiller and Arrietty pointed things out to Larkspur as they looked out the train windows. She loved going past the church although she was startled by the plaster vicar out front, and loved going over the bridge and past the shops. She just couldn't believe that the village was as big as Alice had told her it was, and how detailed everything was, just borrower size. As they rounded every curve she exclaimed about something, and Ari or Spiller would explain it to her.
"It looks like a real town" she marveled, "if borrowers could ever have a town of their own this would be it!"
The asphalt paths, looped off by chains, fascinated her. Arrietty told Lark about all of the humans that trooped around on those paths in the summer, about all of the things they left behind that borrowers could use to supplement their meals and to make clothes and tools. Spiller told her that Hemiola's wedding ring, which Larkspur had admired, had come from a broken necklace that had been found at Little Fordham. They rode around until the rain started again. Mr. Pott stopped the train near the Crown and Anchor so they could run for it and not get soaked.
"We didn't thank them," Lark cried, distressed.
"It's all right," Spiller said. "They don't hold with thanks. He'd have his train whether there were borrowers in the world or not. It's his hobby, you see. Same with her. She was helping him with it before she ever saw Ari, Pod and Homily here."
"But they let us ride, and look at all of this food!" Larkspur exclaimed.
"I don't want to," Ari said, "but I must. We must put it all away, and then we need to put all of the things from the boat away. There's barely room to move in this kitchen. I was afraid at first we'd have to come in through the front and work our way back here."
"Most of it is yours," Spiller pointed out which earned him a sharp look. He hurried to roll a hardboiled egg into the pantry.
By the time they had sorted out the things from Miss Menzies it was pouring outside. They had to light candles to carry the things that had to go upstairs. As Spiller hung up his suit from Halberd's wedding from a hook on the wall of his small downstairs room, he wondered a bit what his wedding to Ari would be like, if they ever finally got around to having it.
The next day was even worse. Rain came down in sheets and when they looked out the windows at the sodden village it was dark and depressing. The girls did a lot of cleaning in the pub, dusting all of the furniture and cleaning up the bar. The glasses that Lark admired so much were very nice glasses, but absolute dust catchers. They also polished the staircase and the furniture, trying to be of some help to their human friends.
Spiller let them work, not bothering to tell them that no humans would ever be able to tell if there was dust in the bar on not. He knew the girls were really doing it all for themselves, to satisfy their sense of neatness.
He went out for awhile to try to gather some wood, and was able to get some that wasn't completely soaked by looking under logs and other sheltered places, but it took awhile and he needed hot soup and tea when he had finally brought in the last load and set it in the wood box next to the stove to further dry out.
They all relaxed comfortably then around the fire in the kitchen and talked, and after supper Ari read some poems from her poetry book. Lark liked them as much as Spiller did. When they finally went to bed none of them slept well because of lighting and thunder.
The next day wasn't much better. They all slept late, had a late breakfast of hardboiled egg and bread with jelly, and then Miss Menzies came with the basket and an umbrella so they could go to the High Beech house for awhile and look at some things she wanted to give away. Ari was sad to see that her collection of Etui was one of the things she was getting rid of but Miss Menzies said firmly, "I can't keep everything and I'm not sure why I ever started collecting them in the first place. I'll have Abel take them down to the village. You can give them to friends or we can store them in one of the empty houses."
"Mother and Papa were very pleased with the one we gave them," Arrietty admitted. "Any borrower would be."
Then Miss Menzies showed Arrietty and Larksput the dress she had cut out that morning for Lark. It was just basted together in places so she had to be careful when she tried it on for size. Miss Menzies nodded. "I thought that would be about right. I'll finish it tonight. I was glad to have something to do this morning. I wanted to go to town with Abel but the weather is just so abysmal he told me not to. He was going to the blacksmith to see about some things he'll need if we put in another train route."
Miss Menzies rocked back on her heels, and frowned. "Only one thing worries me about this whole situation. I worry about Louisa, dear Aubrey's granddaughter. She's going to want to come down to the village. What child would not? And she's not going to be like the usual tourists. I've gotten very fond of her and her of me. She wants to help out here. We are going to be extra careful having her around. I've thought about arranging for more cover. I want more fences around the yards of the houses for one thing. I've tried making them out of match sticks like Abel used to do, and that's not too bad, but some of them need to be a bit higher, and I'm researching dwarf trees that we could get and plant in the yards and along the streets."
"Is there such a thing?" Spiller asked, intrigued.
"I bought him a book on bonsai trees," Miss Menzies explained."I saw an exhibit on them once in London. They come from the Far East. The Chinese and the Japanese grow them in pots, usually stoneware, but I don't why we couldn't have some of those miniature varieties here. I've certainly seen pines."
Arrietty shrugged. "Spiller and I have talked about how we're going to have to behave here. It's going to have to be much more controlled than it was in the past. We've warned Halberd and Hemiola about it, too. When there are humans around, we are going to have to be careful. We know that. We're going to have to be cooped up more. For Halberd and Hemiola, that will be easy. For me, and for Spiller, it's going to be harder."
Spiller looked at Arrietty. "We can take trips when it starts to feel like it's getting to be too much. And there's things I can learn to do here. Mr. Pott could teach me a lot about making things, and I want to learn more about that. I've been thinking about it. One little girl isn't going to make that much difference. Most human children, why you can hear them coming for a mile!"
"And girls, well. If worse comes to worst, you can usually reason with girls," Larkspur interjected. "Look at my Alice!"
"Boys aren't so bad," Arrietty said. "Look at young Tom! I had a boy at Firbank, too."
"I remember hearing about how that went!" Spiller exclaimed. "Cats and poison and the rat catcher smoking you all out. No, we need a good set of rules that everyone can stick to. We don't want the worst. We want everything on an even keel. Promise me, Ari, that you won't be starting anything. I know you. I know how tempting it will be for you, but you just can't do it. Remember what you promised your father. We've already broken that promise a hundred times but we can stick to the spirit of it. No new humans, at least, all right?"
Arrietty looked at him thoughtfully, remembering the night she had made that promise under the electric light, and how Spiller had shown her then how much he cared. "I promise. Unless it's as Papa would say, a state of grave emergency."
"Well said!" Miss Menzies clapped her hands. "Now how about heading back? We'll have roast beef, mashed potatoes and peas, with custard pie for dessert. Abel loves my custard pie. I use three whole eggs and one egg white in it. He says once I get settled in here, we might get our own chickens. I'll bring my sewing with me. Maybe I can get some more done after dinner. I have another idea for another dress, too."
The next day it continued to rain and the borrowers began to feel truly housebound for the first time since they had left the mill. Water hung from the spider's webs in the hedges, and the steady rain became even more dismal. Even Mr. Pott stayed indoors, working. While Miss Menzies sewed, he sat across from her at the kitchen table repairing, remodeling and regluing various things for the model village as the rain poured down outside.
Spiller ventured out to check on the river and found it roaring along worse than he had ever seen it. He was grateful that Mr. Pott had moved his boat and grateful that he didn't have to shoot those rapids in a heavy rain. He could have settled quite nicely into a period of domesticity with Arrietty if they had been alone, but Larkspur was beginning to worry if she'd ever get home. She was enjoying the village and was glad she had come, but she was ready for her visit to be over.
They all rode in the basket again for a good dinner at the cottage, chicken and dumplings and a traditional English trifle with strawberries on top. As lamplight shed a gentle glow around them they all tucked into their food. Spiller wanted to dive into the mouthwatering trifle and probably could have literally done so. The glass bowl that held it was twice his height.
After they were all done eating Miss Menzies gave Larkspur two dresses she had managed to finish for her. One was an elaborate copper colored satin evening gown with simple lines and intricate trimmings. It had falls of black net lace over the shimmering satin and net trimmed with black fringe covered the bodice. It came with a black velvet belt that had a double sash in the back and closed with small jet colored beads.
The other one was the calico dress with a lacy yoke, high collar and blousy front that she had basted together first. There was pleating on the sleeves and matching lace trim on the oversleeves. A lace fitted undersleeve came down to end in a v-shaped ruffle trimmed point on each of the hands. There was even a lace covered belt to go with it.
Larkspur was ecstatic. "I've never seen anything so lovely as these! I could never have done this myself, not for a million years!"
"Be careful when you wash it, because of the lace," Miss Menzies admonished her. "I'm sorry I didn't get anything done for you yet, Arrietty, but I wanted to do these for Larkspur first since I probably won't see her as often."
"That's all right," Arrietty said, watching Larkspur twirl around holding the calico dress in front of her. Seeing the other girl's joy was almost as good as having a new dress of her own. "Speaking of cleaning, though, the quilts Spiller and I have been using while we travel need washing. Can you help me do that if we're going to be here at least another day?"
"Certainly," Miss Menzies assured her. "Give them to me when I take you back to the Crown, and I'll wash them and let them dry inside here. I know best how to do it, since I know how I made them and what I used."
"Appreciate them a lot we do," Spiller told her sincerely. "Mine's been a lifesaver."
That night Arrietty couldn't sleep and went downstairs to find Spiller looking out the pub window at the rain. He looked up when she came in. "Couldn't sleep either?"
"No, the thunder woke me. I haven't seen this much rain since that summer the kettle got washed away." She sat down beside him and when he slipped her arm around him, she snuggled in at his side. "Do you think Mother and Papa are all right under the mill?"
Spiller shook his head. "They should be. They're as far back from the river as they could get but I worry about how I'm going to tie up and get in. We certainly won't be able to go in under the edge like we sometimes do. I can't remember a spring with this much rain." He looked at her and tilted his head. "Ari, would you mind if, once we got a break in the weather, we took Lark straight home and didn't stop anywhere else. She's been gone a long time. I want to take her home and then we can go back to the mill and see how things are there. Maybe by then the water will come down a little. It's dangerous boating around the mill when the water is this high."
"Whatever you say," she told him. "I trust you to do what's right." She looked up as a flash of lightning lit the sky. "I'm glad we're here with Miss Menzies to help us. If we were outside in the woods trying to find shelter and firewood to cook with, it would be awful."
Spiller nodded. "Much as we try to say we could do it the borrowers can't live without humans. Your family held out longer than most I've seen."
Arrietty shook her head, remembering. "Hips and haws, sodden berries," she told him, "and all the other problems we had made it very hard. I liked being outdoors and I still do but there's definitely times when it's better to be in."
"I only knew one family that tried to live outdoors all the time, with no humans," Spiller said thoughtfully. "This family that lived near Daubery were seen when I was a boy living there and they came running to Daubery and Sateen when the ratcatcher got after them. Her name was Glisten and his name was Lickspit. They had a son named Martlet. I was so glad to see him when he showed up. We used to have such fun together. I liked playing with the girls, mind you, but it was different having another boy around for awhile. He was a good friend."
"What happened to them?" Arrietty asked, interested, leaning him, still holding his hand.
"No one knows. Lickspit swore he was done with humans and done depending on them. He said he was going out into the wild and he was going to stay there. Sateen tried to talk them out of it. She begged Glisten to just tell Lickspit not to do it, that she didn't want to go, but he had his mind made up. Daubery gave them all the supplies they could carry to get them started. Martlet thought it was a great adventure but I never heard from them or saw them again after they headed into the woods. I don't know where they wound up but I hope they had the sense to give it up and found some human habitation eventually."
"We'd have died in the wild if we hadn't found you," Arrietty said, leaning over and kissing Spiller softly.
"Don't know about that. Think Homily was ready to pack it in. If I hadn't come along she'd have probably told Pod and he might have listened to her better than Lickspit listened to Glisten." He kissed Arrietty back and she wrapped her arms around him. It wasn't long before they found their way back to Spiller's bedroom off the kitchen.
When Larkspur came down in the morning Spiller and Arrietty were already up. Arrietty was making breakfast and Spiller was just coming in the door with a load of firewood he had scrounged from the last few sheltered spots in the village.
When he dumped them down he said, "This better stop soon or we're going to have to get a load of firewood from Mr. Pott." Arrietty rushed to get him a towel. He began to towel off his head vigorously.
"Isn't it any better?" Larkspur asked, looking out the window. "It looks misty but it's not raining."
"I'm just afraid it will start again," Spiller said. "If it doesn't I want to leave tonight. I think we'll go straight to the lodge with you. No stops anywhere until we get you home. Should be able to do it in four or five days the way the river is running and maybe less."
Lark took a cup of tea that Arrietty offered her. "I'd like that. I've loved visiting all of these borrowers with you, and seeing Little Fordham, but I'd like to go home, but what if we get on the river and the storm starts again?"
"I know of a few places to pull over," Spiller said, giving the towel back to Arrietty and going to stand by the stove. "Some of them are probably flooded out, but they can't all be."
"We'll have to tell Mr. Pott to get the boat back in the water," Arrietty said practically as she hung up the towel to dry. "They'll probably have us to luncheon. We can tell them then." She set out the last of the hardboiled egg for breakfast.
"At the rate it's rained," Spiller said, "I might be able to get it into the water myself. I'll bet the dock is completely under, but I wouldn't want to leave without saying goodbye and we could use some food for the trip. Besides, we need to get our quilts back that Miss Menzies washed. We'll need them on the boat. I wish they'd tell us when their wedding is, so we can be back for that."
"Do you think they'd let us see it?" Arrietty exclaimed. "I would so like that!"
"No idea," said Spiller, "but it would be nice."
Miss Menzies was sad to hear that they were leaving but understood that Larkspur needed to get home. She herself had lots of things she wanted to do if the rain was going to hold off for awhile. She and Mr. Pott had to bring more things from her house down to his cottage so the house would be ready for the new family to move into. After a nice luncheon she and Arrietty and Lark packed up enough portable food for the trip, using some of Spiller's most waterproof bags.
When Arrietty and Lark had gotten the Pub closed up, Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott took the luggage and food, along with the borrowers, down to the river. The water was very high indeed. Mr. Pott's dock was completely underwater and it was clear that the custom house had flooded at least partway.
"Will have lots to do here," he grumbled. He helped Spiller load the boat as the women looked on. Miss Menzies was quite distressed.
"Are you sure you'll be able to manage, Spiller? This will be like shooting rapids. We're getting a cart to do the moving. Don't you want us to take you downstream aways?"
He shook his head. "I can do it. I've done it before. Just pray that the rain has stopped for good. We'll try to be back for the wedding. When do you think it will be?"
"End of June, probably," Mr. Pott said. "Once we get the moving and rearranging done. The new man is supposed to start work the first of July."
"Well, good luck to you," said Spiller, as he climbed onto the boat, which was bobbing in the high water as Mr. Pott held the lines.
The girls offered good wishes, too, and Spiller helped them aboard. When Mr. Pott tossed the ropes, Arrietty and Lark caught them. The boat bobbed, and they almost fell, but they caught themselves in time and Arrietty, taking one began to show Lark how to roll it up as Spiller pushed away from the bank with his butter knife. They shot out into the water and were gone before Abel and Margaret even had a chance to wave goodbye.
"Oh, I do hope they'll be all right," Miss Menzies said, putting a handkerchief to her face.
"I do, too, my dear. I do, too." Abel Pott said, straining his eyes for a glimpse of the boat on the rushing river, but it was already out of sight.