Chapter 19

It didn't rain anymore as they traveled that night but there was a steady drizzle. Spiller kept the boat moving until he couldn't stand up anymore and then pulled into some debris caught under a footbridge. The water was so high that if they had been able to stand on top of the boat they probably could have touched the arch of the bridge but Spiller was sure that they'd be safe for awhile unless it started raining hard again.

Arrietty wrapped him in a blanket and while he sat down gratefully under the canopy she got him a big piece of one of the roast beef sandwiches Miss Menzies had packed for them, along with a quarter of a chocolate biscuit. He was starved and ate voraciously but he was so tired he didn't seem to realize what he was eating.

"I wish I had some hot tea or coffee for you," Arrietty fretted, "or some hot soup."

"I'll be fine. I just need to rest." He finished his food, curled up under the canopy in the blanket on top of his quilt, tucked the clean quilt around himself and fell into a dead sleep.

Arrietty and Lark looked out from the front of the canopy into the misty morning. They were beached on a pile of sticks and branches piled up under the edge of the bridge. It was a weed-strewn, trembling mass very much like the one Arrietty's family had gotten caught on when they were riding the kettle downstream, although tucked away and not in the open like that pile of debris had been.

The water on the riverside of the obstruction flowed dark and deep, with ripples occasionally rising up and turning into waves, but they did not come as high as the sides of the boat. Spiller had gotten them well settled into this shady place. Arrietty just hoped it would not be too hard getting back off of it. She was not afraid of being seen and told Larkspur so.

The knife box looked too boxlike, jammed into the sticks like rubbish, and the canopy was too nondescript. A large black crow landed on the other side of the pile, and stood looking at the girls, very curious, with his head turned sideways. Lark gave a squeak and grabbed Arrietty's arm, but Arrriety calmly walked to the very edge of the boat, leaned over a large stick, looked him in the eye and said as loudly as she dared so as not to wake Spiller, "Away with you! Go on, now! Shoo!"

Just as a crow had done once for her father, the bird went rigid, shocked and amazed to be so addressed, and flew away with a startled croak. When Larkspur looked at Arrietty just as amazed, Arrietty told her about the time Pod had gotten caught out on the road by a crow and how he had conversed with it, confounding the bird.

"They're such big birds, though," Lark exclaimed, looking off into the direction the bird had flown.

"Papa told me once that size is nothing," Arrietty explained. "He says the talking is what gets to them."

Occasionally they heard steps overhead on the bridge or muffled voices but no one passing about them lingered. The girls talked awhile about Arista's baby, what Pod and Homily must be thinking, how they must be looking every day for Arrietty to come home, and Larkspur speculated on whether or not Alice had gone back to the lodge and if she were wondering what happened to Lark.

"I'd love to be home if she comes," Larkspur said, "to tell her all about my trip."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Arrietty said. "I wouldn't give her a lot of details, anyway. The others might not want her to know where they are. They don't all like humans, you know."

"Oh, I wouldn't do that."

Another spring storm came up late in the afternoon and woke Spiller, who was beyond furious at the idea of more rain, but by the time they finished eating a meal under the canopy it seemed to be slowing down. It was just a drizzle again when they set off. Since Spiller had rested and the girls had kept watch they slept as he guided the boat along. He looked longingly at the place where he normally pulled up to Burgonet's place but stuck to his plan. They needed to get back to Cairncross Lodge and bring Larkspur home.

Then after a short visit, since Arrietty was keen to see the place where Lark and Spiller had grown up, they would head back again to the mill, taking their time. They'd finish their wedding plans and after the marriage head back down to Little Fordham for a nice long honeymoon. Then perhaps they could bring down Hemiola and Halberd for a visit. Spiller wanted some time alone with Arrietty before he did that and he was not worried about Halberd and Hemiola's safety anymore.

Even with the gypsies getting run off they should be able to last for awhile longer with the supplies we gave them, Spiller thought to himself. There's dandelion leaves and watercress for salad, strawberries are in season and there will be blackberries soon. Halberd's a fair fisherman, too. He can always head down to the river and catch a few fish whenever he wants. There are rosehips and haws. Yes, they should be fine while Ari and I take some time to settle into marriage.

Toward morning they went past the bend in the river by the gypsy camp, and he was tempted to change his mind and stop there for the day, and sleep in a proper bed even if it had to be alone, but it was a couple of hours to dawn. He shot past and headed toward the place where he used to keep his kettle. Even with the high water he thought he could land there and while Spiller was eager to check on his other boats he had no intention of going down the drain to Tom Goodenough's cottage.

It was later in the morning than he would have liked, when bone weary, he pulled up to what was left of the sandy beach. The mouth of the drain, which was set well back from the bank of the stream normally, was uncomfortably close due to all of the rain. He pulled it at the second beach where he had in the past kept his kettle. The cluster of brambles that used to anchor it was half drowned in water with shoots trailing in the dark depths.

The tunnel underneath them where Spiller usually kept his boat was so full of water that he could barely squeeze the boat in. There was definitely no room to spare. Usually he had a space as tall as himself above the boat. Now he had maybe a third of that. The tin can boat was half flooded and would have to be salvaged another time, but his soap lid boat was all right, just floating higher than it normally did. When he got done checking things out, he found the girls awake.

"The water is so deep here," Arrietty exclaimed, remembering how it used to be.

"And it's going to get worse, dang it!" Spiller said, hearing the wearyingly familiar sound of rain starting.

"Have some sandwich and biscuit," Arrietty said practically, "and then get some rest." She held up another quarter of one of the roast beef sandwiches Miss Menzies had given them while Lark went to the far end of the boat to where the water was rushing the fastest to set the bucket out to get rainwater to drink.

They all ate the piece of sandwich as the girls watched the burnished river flies that had darted under the brambles as if to get out of the rain. Spiller looked out at the sudden shower. "I can't go another step, truly I can't," he complained, "but you have to wake me if the top of the boat starts to touch the top of the tunnel. I'd hate to get the boat stuck in here as heavily as it's loaded."

"We promise," Arrietty said. In spite of the rain the day was getting warmer so she had high hopes that the rain would stop before long. She sighed. "I'll bet Aunt Lupy's making tea right now for breakfast down the drain and in the cottage."

"Probably has Eggletina doing it," Larkspur said. "I'll bet they're making fried potatoes and eggs, too, as we speak. I'd love some nice hot fried potatoes right now."

"I'd love some nice hot tea," Arrietty said.

"I'd love both," Spiller exclaimed, "but wishing don't get you anywhere. When we get to the lodge Lark will make tea, won't you Lark?"

"Count on it," she assured her brother.

When Spiller was asleep the girls considered climbing the brambles and going out onto a tree root nearby to see what they could see, but then the rain grew harder and they gave up that plan, afraid of falling and getting swept into the raging river. They just lay on the bottom of the boat under the brambles too depressed after awhile by the weather to even chat anymore.

Larkspur dozed off and when she did, Arrietty sat up and leaned against the side, willing herself not to fall asleep in case the boat did rise any higher. When Larkspur awoke with a start however, it still seemed like they had plenty of room. She offered to take a watch so that Arrietty could have a nap, and once Arrietty explained to her what Spiller needed done Larkspur propped herself up and stared at the brambles, keeping a close eye on the roof they made over their heads.

The boat was still not touching the bramble roof when Spiller awoke. The rain had turned to drizzle again, much to his relief. As they munched on some raisins and the last of the sandwich Miss Menzies had given them they all talked about how lucky it was that the heaviest rain was coming during the day and not at night when they were doing most of their traveling. They all agreed it was the nastiest spring weather any of them could remember and that they could not get to Cairncross Lodge too soon.

Arrietty was shocked when the mill finally came into view. She came out from under the canopy in spite of the worsening rain to stare at it. One of the blades was broken and hanging down at a crooked angle. It was blackened around the break. Spiller whistled when he saw it.

"Looks like lightning hit it. Poor Homily! She must have jumped straight into the air when that happened. Perhaps we should go see how they are after all!"

But the water was so high they couldn't go under and the usually place where they went around was flooded, too. Spiller kept circling the river side of mill getting more and more frustrated but Arrietty finally stopped him.

"You're just making yourself tired. Let's go to the lodge. The rain has to stop eventually and the water will go down. Mother and Papa would have had enough sense to move up into the wall if the river got too high, not that that's likely."

"No, it isn't likely," Spiller said, propping the boat against a rock with his butterknife so he could wipe water out of his eyes as he considered the situation. "They were as far back from the river as they could get. I'd try tying up somewhere and walking around to the other side and seeing if we could find them but it's too wet and slippery. It would be a fine thing if one of use got hurt trying to see if they were hurt."

"I'm willing to try if you want me to," Larkspur assured Arrietty. "I know you must be worried about them and they must be worried about you."

"No, they wouldn't want that," Arrietty said firmly. "They wouldn't want that at all. We'll come back when the water's gone down. Spiller always tells them that traveling is dependent on the weather. Let's go on."

She watched as Spiller maneuvered back around and gave the mill one last look as they headed around it. She felt anxious but she didn't know why. She knew if they had any problems with water her parents would have moved out of its path. Hadn't they done that successfully with hot water the time the boiler had broken when they'd been living under the floor? No, Pod would be sensible around water and as quick as he needed to be. Something still nagged at her, however, and she couldn't wait for sunny dry weather so she could come back home and see how things had gone.

Spiller pushed off and went downstream as the rain changed back to drizzle. They soon passed Daubery's place. Spiller was tempted to stop. He was very tired and longing to rest but the place along the bank where he usually tied up was flooded there, too, and it wasn't that much farther to Cairncross lodge.

He was very relieved when he came punting around the last bend and saw his father's hollow tree. He had been terribly afraid that it would not survive the storms. He could easily see how it could fallen over or been struck by lightning like the blade at the mill. It really didn't look that different. Past it, on the hill as the drizzle stopped and the mist began to fade away he could see the lodge standing in the moonlight.

He and Lark had a quick discussion as to the best place to moor the boat and finally came up with an idea. It was a bit further down the river and past the tree but definitely on higher ground. There was a stand of bulrushes against the bank and it wasn't hard to work the boat into them. They agreed to take only what they would need for the night and come back to the boat later on for anything else they needed. They had to climb to get up the bank but they were all natural climbers.

When they got into the house Spiller said wearily," We made it. Cairncross lodge. Home sweet home."

"I was beginning to think I'd never see it again." Lark guided them down the wall and shook her head at the amount of dust. "Should I make tea first or sweep up so we can have clean beds for the night?"

"You make the tea," Arrietty said. "I'll sweep."

While the girls did that Spiller sneaked up to the human kitchen with a borrowing bag and a bucket to see if there was anything worth borrowing for breakfast. He found a roll that had been left on the table that was not too hard and brought that to the girls.

They ate the last of the raisins, half of the roll, and drank cup after cup of steaming tea. Then they all went to sleep, Lark in her doll's bed, and Spiller on his pallet. Arrietty had shaken the dust off and remade the bed with both of their quilts. Spiller was happy to settle down into the clean bed with her but he was so tired that he was out like a snuffed candle the minute his head hit the pillow.

They all slept until late afternoon. Then they got up, had more roll and tea, and after that Lark showed Arrietty around her place. They decided to go up into the kitchen wall and see if they could get any household news. There was considerable bustling going on in the kitchen and around the house.

Apparently it was Wednesday and the family was due back Friday. After borrowing enough from the kitchen as the housekeeper bustled in and out so that Arrietty could show Larkspur how to make a vegetable soup she'd asked Arrietty about, they went back inside the wall and down the hall. As the girls made the soup, Spiller sat and watched them, glad to have a chance to just rest and relax.

He and Arrietty agreed to stay until after Alice arrived so that Arrietty could meet her. What were a few more days? Besides, that night was the worst storm ever, with crashing thunder and lightning that lit the upstairs so brightly that it came right through the cracks and in on the borrowers. There was no chance of the water going down soon. Arrietty clung to Spiller so tightly that he decided to distract her in the most pleasant way he knew. Then the storm abated, inside and out, and they were able to sleep.

The next day to their great relief there was sunshine. The storms were finally over. They walked down the hallway to where the two drawing rooms opened into each other and peeped out the mousehole Sun was coming in the windows, glinting off the glass candlesticks, making the brocade walls look cheerful instead of dim. The human part of the house reminded Arrietty of Firbank. She and Larkspur talked endlessly about their respective homes and respective humans. Arrietty often wondered what had happened to the human boy that Mr. Driver had treated so badly, who had wanted so much to be a borrower. Larkspur couldn't wait to see Alice again.

The borrowers kept busy waiting for her to come. They went to the boat and brought back the last of Lark's things and some of the items they had brought for her to use. As the grass dried up a bit Spiller was able to rearrange the boat and conceal it more. They checked on the tins in the tree to see how many of the stored nuts and seeds were still fit to use.

Arrietty helped Larkspur do her spring cleaning. Larkspur and Spiller did a lot of borrowing to restock her pantry. Arrietty helped Spiller to improve the one small burner over the even smaller gas jet that she used to boil water so that she would be able to do more cooking. Then Arrietty taught her how to make a few other easy dishes.

He went outside with Arrietty once. They walked as far as the pasture enjoying the sunshine. Spiller told her some stories about growing up there. They found a huge clump of sheep's wool in some brambles at the edge of the pasture and pulled as much of it free as they could to pad the space in the boat under the canopy.

"It's clean," Arrietty said, running a strand through her hand.

"Probably got rained on for days," Spiller answered.

Spiller, Arrietty and Larkspur also kept talking, enjoying each other's company. The truth was that they had no end of things to say to each other. Larkspur liked Arrietty, Arrietty liked Larkspur, and Spiller loved them both. The ties between them all grew very strong and Larkspur was already saying how much she wanted them to come and visit again.

"Wait until we leave before you miss us," Spiller said mischievously.

Lark startled him by throwing her arms around his neck. "I missed you needlessly for too many years. Now that I've found you I don't want you to stay away too long, ever."

The borrowers stayed very quiet the day the human guests arrived. They could tell as more and more of the humans came in because of the noise and the movement. Larkspur was so impatient to see Alice that she took to literally haunting the hallway next to the mousehole. Spiller and Arrietty sat with her listening to her tell stories of her human friend.

It was quite late when they heard the scrape of a wing chair being moved away from the wall, and a faint bit of light came through the mousehole, followed by a large piece of cake wrapped in a nice linen napkin with Battenberg lace trim.

Larkspur rushed out as Spiller pulled the napkin back to examine the cake. Since they had gotten to the lodge he always seemed to be hungry. Arrietty assumed he was trying to get his energy back from their hectic trip. She slipped out of the mousehole just as Alice, sitting on the floor next to the chair in a long white nightgown and socks, was asking Larkspur how her brother was.

"He'll be along shortly. This is his girlfriend, Arrietty."

Alice was delighted to see Arrietty. "Oh, you're so pretty. I'm so glad you came to visit. I'm glad you're all right. He was so worried about you when he was here over the winter."

"I was worried about him, too," Arrietty assured her. "Things are back to normal now."

"What have you been up to, Alice," Lark asked, turning around and taking some of the cake.

"I'm just busy. I'm about to make my debut. I'm having my debutante ball this fall. I just hope none of the young men we are inviting shirk their schooling to come. I want them all to come of course, but I want to get engaged to someone who is well educated. After one has a debut getting engaged is really expected. My father will find someone suitable for me, I'm sure. We're going to do all of the planning for the party this summer. I'm going to start choosing the food and the décor when we get back to town. We'll have to order the champagne and I have to choose my invitations. Then I have to pick my dress and my favors. I'm fairly sure I want the gown to be made of taffeta with a white chiffon overskirt. I'm thinking of stickpins and watches for the favors. There will be so much to do."

Arrietty was startled. "Won't that be expensive? How many people will be coming?"

Alice looked thoughtful. "Well, at least two hundred."

"You have two hundred friends?" Larkspur was shocked.

"It's our social circle, you see," Alice said, leaning back against the wing chair. "Once I make my debut, like I said, I'll have to find someone suitable to marry. If you don't marry within a year or two of your debut everyone looks down on you. I'm sure my father has some young men in mind. Most of his friends have sons of marriageable age."

"That is not my idea of finding a suitable mate," Arrietty said ruefully.

"Thank goodness," Spiller said, leaning against the side of the mousehole. "I don't even know two hundred borrowers and Pod and Homily would definitely not have considered me part of any social circle. I like to dance but I don't think I'd like to go to a ball. What a crush it must be!"

"A debutante ball is what they call a rite of passage, at least that's what Father says," Alice replied. "That's what it means, really. It means that you are grown up enough to get engaged."

She asked then about Spiller and Arrietty's wedding plans. She was surprised that they hadn't done much planning, telling them human weddings often took at least a year to plan under normal circumstances. Then she and Larkspur began to talk about what Lark needed Alice to bring her. Lark had been away from home for so long she needed a lot of things. Alice promised to get as much as she could and put it into the mousehole as often as she could.

"I'll try to come back tomorrow when everyone goes to sleep. If they all go out anywhere and I can get out of it I'll come and call for you." Alice rose to her feet and said goodbye. The borrowers ate cake until they were stuffed and drank cup after cup of tea. The cake was white and had fluffy white icing. Alice had told them the cook had baked it especially for her to welcome her home.

When they got to bed that night Arrietty and Spiller talked a lot about Alice and how nice she was. Eventually though, Arrietty said to Spiller thoughtfully, "Do you even think there are two hundred borrowers in England?"

"No idea," he answered, "but even if there were I wouldn't try having a party for the lot of them."

"It must be awful having to marry someone just because they are suitable," Arrietty said, propping herself up on one elbow.

"Am I suitable?" Spiller asked teasingly, running his hand down her arm.

"Very much so, but I wouldn't marry you just because you're suitable. I'm marrying you because I love you, and that's that."

'That's that, and this is this," he said, leaning over for a kiss. It was quite awhile after that before they actually went to sleep.

Spiller was glad Larkspur had Alice to help her get her larder and storerooms in order. He was looking forward to getting to the mill. He and Arrietty lingered a few more days keeping track of the weather. There were no more heavy storms.

"The river has probably gone down quite a bit by now," Spiller said after dinner on Wednesday as he was finishing the last of the cake. It was getting a bit dry and he needed more tea than he normally drank to wash it down. "At least I hope it has. We've been here a week. I'm thinking maybe tomorrow we should try to get back to the mill."

"I love having you here," Larkspur said, "but I expect Pod and Homily are worried about Arrietty."

"I'm worried about them, too," Arrietty said as she buttered a piece of bread. "I hope they didn't get any flooding, or if they did that they managed to save enough to live on. They should've. They've had enough practice. Water's always an issue when you live under the floor."

"That's one of the reasons I like the inside of the walls," Lark said. "Once you get used to dealing with the dust it's not so bad."

"We'll go tomorrow when it starts to get dark," Spiller decided. "Lark, will you say goodbye to Alice for us? If she's going to be here for awhile at least I don't have to worry about you."

"Are you going to be safe?" Lark asked. "Do I need to worry about you?"

"No," Spiller assured her. "We'll leave at twilight. We can spend the night with Daubery and Sateen. They'll want to know all about Halberd and Hemiola. Then we can go to the mill the next day." He looked at Arietty. "I know you wanted to go straight home but I don't want to have to just turn around and go back in a few days. It's easier on me to keep going downriver than punting back up."

"That's fine," Arrietty said. "I'd like to see them."

The river was running fast but seemed to be settling down a bit. They were able to get to the place where Spiller usually tied up his boat. The water was higher than normal but mooring the boat was manageable.

When they got to Daubery's place Actina of course heard them first and came running out to greet them. "Spiller, Spiller, Spiller," she crooned, throwing her arms around his waist. "We've missed you! Did you see Halberd and Hemiola? How are they? How's your leg? Did you two get married yet?"

He laughed. "Leg's fine but one thing at a time, Little One. Let's go see Mum and Dad, shall we?" As he hugged her back though, he realized she was no longer little. She had gotten much taller in the last year and now was almost up to his shoulder.

Sateen and Daubery were in the doorway, watching and laughing, too. They both hugged Spiller and Arrietty. "One thing at a time it is," Daubery said, as Sateen hurried them to the table and began to slice bread and cheese, "but we do want the answers to all of those questions."

The other girls all began to chatter at once, too. "How was your trip?" Elegancy asked. "The weather has been so awful."

"Did your sister enjoy traveling?" Semplice asked. "Did you take her all the way down the river? Is she home now?"

Sennet was right behind her. "Did you get as far as Little Fordham? Did your sister get to see the village and ride the trains?"

As Arrietty and Spiller began to make sandwiches out of the bread and cheese Arrietty mused, "Oh, where do we start? Yes, Larkspur is safe at home. We just got back from staying at her place. We took her all the way downriver to Little Fordham and visited everyone we know along the way. I think she liked it, especially the trains."

"Got a ride all right," Spiller said. "Had fun all the way but it took so long that we decided to go straight back to the lodge on the way home. Had a devil of a time on the river with all this rain."

"Did you see Hemiola and Halberd?" Sateen asked anxiously, pouring Spiller and Arrietty some lemonade.

"On the way down we did," Spiller said, reaching for a glass. "They're doing all right but the humans in the area don't want the gypsies camping there anymore. They get into too much mischief so the stove isn't going to be as good of a place to live as it used to be when I was borrowing from the caravans."

"What will they do?" Daubery asked, appalled.

"If they stock up good in the fall they should be all right in the winter," Arrietty said, "but they're thinking of coming down to Little Fordham in the summer and seeing how they like it."

"Lots of good borrowings there," Spiller pointed out, "and that's where Ari and I want to spend at least most our summers once we're married."

"You still haven't had the wedding?" the twins exclaimed in unison, scandalized.

"No, we're going to set the date when we get back to the mill," Spiller said. "The storm was so bad I thought of pulling in there on the way here, but the water was so high it was dangerous to try. Go again we will, when the water goes down. Should have gotten better since then."

Daubery and Sateen shot each other alarmed glances, looks that Spiller was very familiar with. "What?" Spiller said, looking from one to the other.

"We heard our humans talking about that mill," Daubery said, "talking about storm damage. We were worried sick about you and about Pod and Homily. Are you sure they're all right?"

Arrietty and Spiller looked at each other equally alarmed. "Must be talking about that lightning damage to the blade," Spiller said quickly, setting his hand over hers comfortingly. He nodded to Daubery. "When we went past we saw one of the blades was broken and blackened. Looked like lighting had hit it. Everything else looked fine. Water was just really high."

"Oh," Sateen said, mollified. "Was that all it was? To hear the humans gossiping you'd have thought it much worse than that."

"That's humans for you," Daubery said, relieved. "Can't trust them."

Spiller and Arrietty ignored that. After their long trip they wanted to relax, eat hot food and hot drinks, and have a nice visit. The girls were all thrilled to see Arrietty. She slept in their dormitory style room that night in Hemiola's old bed and had a grand time.

Daubery finally told them to go to sleep, that if he never heard that kind of giggling again he would be perfectly content. Spiller, lying in the guest room in Halberd's old bed, put his hands behind his head and grinned. Daubery had heard plenty of giggling in his life and would undoubtedly hear a lot more before the girls all turned into staid young women, if they ever did.

They finally all got some sleep. Then in the morning they had eggs and a fried potato for breakfast and it was exactly what Spiller and Arrietty had dreamed of for days. They spent the day catching up with the family and set off down the river late in the afternoon. Sateen had given them more food than they thought they needed but they accepted it graciously. They intended to share the bread and cheese and hardboiled egg with Homily and Pod when they arrived so she would not have to make them dinner. Then they could spend all their time catching up.

The river was still high but not as high as it had been. The weather was lovely for the end of May. The moonlight on the water made it shimmer. The whole world seemed washed clean by the rain. Arrietty sat beside Spiller in the front of the boat enjoying the nice night breathing in the scents of the river along with those of the earth, hedgerows, grasses and bark they were passing. On the right side of the river there were willows and on the right side a meadow came sloping down to the water's edge. An owl swooped over the river but as long as Spiller was holding his butterknife paddle, she was not afraid.

Spiller's white kid vest and trousers had already gotten a kind of gunmetal color on them in spots from dust in the wall and he had some grass stains from where he had launched the boat. He was not as easy to spot as he had been when he had first put it on. She knew it would soon be colored with all of the colors of the outdoors. That made her smile. He would look as he had looked when she had met him except taller and stronger. He shot her a glance, his black eyes bright and seeing her smile his lips turned up at the corners as he smiled back at her, the familiar v-shaped smile that she had learned to love. He really had grown up wonderfully well. Arriety was happy and at peace until they came up to the bank nearest to the mill.

"Spiller, what's that? Look, there on the riverbank to your left. See that?"

He frowned. It was something oddly shaped and colored for a riverbank but vaguely familiar at the same time. He steered a little closer to the branches that were sticking out of the water there. He came up on one side of the mound as Arrietty leaned over and looked at the other side. She reached out and picked up a sodden blue mass.

Now he knew what it was and she did, too. "It's a blanket," he said flatly, "and no mistake." He'd seen a dozen exactly like it. It was one of the blankets Homily and Arrietty had made out of the pale blue wool they'd gotten at Little Fordham. The white edging was made from a familiar handkerchief and was neatly stitched.

Arrietty looked up at him. "How did this get here? Spiller, this is one of Mother's blankets. I'd know it anywhere. Oh, Spiller, they must have had water come in and had to get out from under the floor so quickly that they left this behind!"

"Seems likely," he said. "Why don't you spread it out over the canopy to dry? We'll give it back to them when we see them. Homily will want to wash it again but I'm sure she'll be glad to have it back."

He was about to use his butterknife to push off when Arrietty gasped and pointed to the edge of the bank on the other side of the branches. "It's Papa's new bench, the one he made last winter."

And so it was, propped up against a tree root, one end gleaming with black mud. Spiller worked his way around the branches and came up against the bank. "We need to drop anchor to salvage that," he said grimly. When they had the boat tied up tight on both ends, He jumped onto a branch and almost slipped, causing Arrietty to squeak in terror.

"All right," he said. "I'm all right." He worked his way across the branches and got the end of the bench that was stuck in the mud free. He dragged it through some water to get the mud off, and with Arrietty's help pulling as he pushed, they got the bench onto the boat. "Water's cold," he told her. She ran and got him a towel which he applied vigorously to his hair and then draped around his neck. He sank down on the deck and stared at the bench.

"Will it be ruined?" Arrietty asked. "Will it dry out all right?"

"Should be," he answered. "That's a well made bench. Shouldn't warp from getting wet. What worries me is that it's here. It would take awfully strong water to sweep this out of the mill, Ari. It must have been worse than it looked. I'd say it flooded all the way under the floor."

"Well, at least it wasn't hot water, like that time the boiler broke and flooded us out under the floor at Firbank. That was worse but they got back under the floor eventually and got settled again. Poor Mother, though. At her age, and just when she had everything so nice the way she wanted it. She's probably just fit to be tied." Arrietty took the towel and brought Spiller his quilt. Why don't we stay here tonight? We've got food, it's getting dark and you're tired. We might have to take the long way around. That's hard if it's dark, and besides, we might even have to find a new way in." She lowered herself down beside him and he drew her in under the edge of the quilt.

"That's so," Spiller said thoughtfully, putting his arm around her and staring at another pile of sticks and debris that they would have to get around to get back into the river current and on the way to the mill, "but aren't you worried? Don't you want to get there?"

"Of course I'm worried!" Arrietty exclaimed. "Very worried but there wouldn't be much we could do to help at night, now is there? If they're working all day trying to set up the place again, they're probably going to bed early and might even be sleeping already. Let's not disturb them or get too worked up until tomorrow. Then we'll actually be able to see what's what." She leaned her head on his shoulder and he kissed her forehead.

"All right, Ari, if you think so. Safe enough here it is. We'll look like all the other trash along the river if anyone can get through those brambles up there and down this slippery bank without breaking their necks."

They had some bread and cheese, and curled up under their blankets in the sheep's wool beneath the canopy. Arrietty went right to sleep, curled up at Spiller's side, but he stared out of the boat and fretted. He was very concerned about what kind of a mess they would find Pod and Homily in when they got to the mill. He eyed the larger pile of debris with curiosity. Should check that out before we go round, he thought. Might be something good in there we can use. Might even have more of Pod and Homily's things in it. The blanket and the bench didn't wash out of that mill alone. Before he could give this more thought, though, Arrietty's warmth and even breathing made him very drowsy. He yawned, closed his eyes and also fell asleep.

He woke up when she did. He felt her move beside him, stretch and sit up. He opened his eyes. "All right there, Ari?"

"I'm all right. I was just tired."

As they ate some bread and drank some water, she looked over at Spiller. "You're worried about Papa, aren't you? Don't be. If anyone could manage a flood he could."

"I just didn't think it would be this bad when I chose the back side of the mill," Spiller said, ripping his bread into two pieces. "If they've lost a lot it'll be my fault."

"No, it will not, and you brought them most of what they have anyway. We'd have all died in the wilderness, or at the hands of the gypsies were it not for you. Spiller, no matter how much trouble it is to sort this out, I'll never blame you. Mother and Papa better not, either." She glanced out then at the bend in the river. "Spiller? See that mound? What's holding it up? It looks odd."

"Noticed that last night," he admitted. "Not sure. Those sticks are so straight. Not like regular branches at all. Can we check it out before we go? If it's other stuff that washed out of the mill we might find something useful in that pile."

"We did when we were marooned on that island of sticks that time in the kettle," Arrietty said. "There's ways to use almost anything if you look at it in the right way."

When they were done eating they worked together to push off from the tree root. "I think the water even went down a little more last night," Spiller mused as they finally got free. He used his butterknife to paddle toward the pile of debris. Arrietty stood ready with a pin and twine to throw it in and catch hold. They bumped hard against a very long straight stick. Arrietty fell onto her bottom but she managed to throw the pin into a tangle of sticks and weeds above the larger stick, and it caught fast.

"Good job" Spiller said. "Didn't bruise yourself did you? Wouldn't want to see my favorite view of you all in shadow."

She put her nose up in the air and tossed her hair. "That's your favorite view of me? Fine thing!"

"Well, one of them," Spiller said, stealing a quick kiss. "Look at this, Ari," he said, turning around and pointing to distract her. "Isn't a stick at all!"

The straight piece of wood was one of those sticks that humans use to help them walk. Buried in the pile, they could just see the silver head of the cane glinting. Spiller climbed onto it, and balancing himself by holding on to overhead branches, peered into the pile of debris to see how fast it was stuck in.

"Oh, I wish we could salvage this," Spiller said with a sigh as he straightened up. "That would be worth something to the humans, it would. Might even get a reward for it like Halberd and I did with the silver cigarette case."

"It's too long," Arietty said, carefully climbing out onto the debris island. "It won't fit in the boat and if we dragged it behind us, it would be getting caught on everything under the water. No, Spiller, I don't see how we can do it now. Maybe we can think of another way later but we can't take that with us now even if we could get it out."

"You're right." Spiller climbed a little farther, walking carefully as the sticks were slippery, until he could see into the center of the pile. "A chair," he said surprised. The middle of this is a wooden chair like humans keep in their kitchens."

"It was a gatepost the last time, all tangled up with wire," Arrietty remembered, coming up beside him to peer at it.

"Scared me, you did. I was so relieved to find you and then I realized Mild Eye was casting for you. When he got his hook into Homily's skirt I thought she was a goner."

"I did, too." Arrietty walked a little farther, and found a water snail clinging to the side of one of the branches. "Do you think the chair came from the mill?"

"Like as not," Spiller said, climbing up. On the other side of the island there was something white, a sodden mass that he soon realized was a human shirt. He called to Arrietty and asked her if she thought they should try to work it free from the twigs and brambles. "Might need cloth," he argued. "What if your Ma and Pa didn't have time to save all of their clothes?" But try as they might, they couldn't get the whole thing free, so Arrietty got the razor blade from the boat and as Spiller held the fabric taut, she cut large pieces out of the back of the shirt.

"Lucky it was the sleeves that were caught," she said, when they had several large pieces of fabric cut out and spread across the sticks to dry.

They then got some watercress to liven up their sandwiches and had a quick lunch. When they pushed off Arrietty sat up front with Spiller, the sun warming her face. It was only a short way to the mill and then they would be home. They might have to find a new place to hide the boat or a new way to enter the mill but they would manage. They would help Papa and Mother rebuild and then they would pick a wedding date.

"It's only a couple of weeks until my birthday," Arrietty said to Spiller suddenly.

"Fishing for a present?" he asked, amused.

"No, my birthday doesn't matter so much. I just want Papa and Mother to settle on a wedding date by then. I was hoping we'd be married and at Little Fordham by the end of June."

"We will be. Promise," he told her, then rounded the last bend. Arrietty's scream was piercing and he was too shocked to even worry about who might have heard it. He couldn't think about anything else but what he was seeing…the whole river side of the mill had collapsed and was lying on the ground across the bank and into the water, nothing but a pile of rubble. On the other side the blackened blade swung slowly back and forth. The building was a ruin.