[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
they found had become a cart track and disappeared into a farm. "Trespassers will be
prosecuted" said a notice on the gate, and a large black dog rushed out to bark at them.
"No matter," Emelius told them. Suddenly taking the lead, he led them back to the road, and,
skirting the farm buildings, he took them through fields and spinneys to the base of the hill
beyond. Miss Price became a little fussed and disheveled-she was not at her best climbing
through hedges.
"Are you sure there isn't a bull?" she would ask, perched precariously on the upper rungs of a
five-barred gate.
At last, they found the track again-a faint depression in the turfy grass. No more hedges; the
hill swelled steeply above them. There were chalk and harebells and an occasional clump of
beech trees. They followed the curve of the hill until at last the view widened beneath them
and a sweet breeze stole their breath. Carey found a fossil; Miss Price mislaid a glove.
While they were searching, Emelius went ahead; turning a sudden corner, he seemed to
disappear. When at last they came upon him, he was standing in a hollow, knee-deep in
brambles. Among the brambles, there were stones and rubble. It might well have been the ruin
of a house, Carey thought- looking about her-awash with elder bushes and trailing
honeysuckle. Tears of disappointment came to her eyes. "Was it really here? " she asked,
hoping he might be mistaken.
"Indeed, yes," Emelius assured her. He seemed elated rather than depressed-as though this
was proof of his having skipped the centuries. He took Miss Price's hand and helped her
down-quite excited he had become, almost boyish-and left her marooned on a piece of coping
while gingerly he jumped from stone to stone, showing the general layout of the rooms. "Here
was the parlor, here the dairy. This," he explained as he jumped down into a long hollow,
"was the sunken garden where my aunt grew sweet herbs." He kicked the sandy rubble from
some flat stones. "And here the cellar steps." He showed them where the apple orchard had
been and the barn. "It was a comely, neat house," he repeated proudly. "And none to inherit it
save I." When they reached the main road, a strange incident occurred. Emelius disappeared.
One moment he was walking just behind them, and the next he was nowhere to be seen. Miss
Price stopped Dr. Lamond in his old Ford and asked him if he had seen, along the road, a
young man of Emelius's description.
"Yes," said the doctor. "As I turned the corner, he was close behind you; then he made a dart
for that field." They found Emelius behind the hedge, white and shaking. It was the car that
had unnerved him. His panic, in the face of such a monster, had left no place for courtesy. It
was some time before Miss Price could calm him. When the mail van passed them later,
Emelius stood his ground, but the sweat broke on his brow, and he quivered like a horse about
to shy. He did not speak again until they reached home.
6 MAGIC IN MODERATION
Breaking Emelius into twentieth-century life was not easy, but Miss Price had great patience.
He learned to clean his own shoes and to pass the bread and butter at tea. He became more
modern in his speech, and once was heard to say O.K. They had no sooner got him used to
cars when he saw a jeep, and all their good work was undone. Airplanes he marveled at, but
they did not come close enough to frighten him. But daily, as he learned more of the state of
the world, modern inventions and the march of "progress," he clung closer to Miss Price as
the one unassailable force in the midst of nightmarish havoc.
On warm evenings, after the children were in bed, he would be with Miss Price in the garden,
stripping damsons with a rake (for bottling), and they would talk about magic. Carey could
hear them through her window, their voices rising and falling in restrained but earnest
argument as the damsons pattered into the basket and the sun sank low behind the trees. "I
never scrape the scales from an adder," she once heard Miss Price say earnestly. "It takes
force from any spell except those in which hemlock is combined with fennel. The only time I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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they found had become a cart track and disappeared into a farm. "Trespassers will be
prosecuted" said a notice on the gate, and a large black dog rushed out to bark at them.
"No matter," Emelius told them. Suddenly taking the lead, he led them back to the road, and,
skirting the farm buildings, he took them through fields and spinneys to the base of the hill
beyond. Miss Price became a little fussed and disheveled-she was not at her best climbing
through hedges.
"Are you sure there isn't a bull?" she would ask, perched precariously on the upper rungs of a
five-barred gate.
At last, they found the track again-a faint depression in the turfy grass. No more hedges; the
hill swelled steeply above them. There were chalk and harebells and an occasional clump of
beech trees. They followed the curve of the hill until at last the view widened beneath them
and a sweet breeze stole their breath. Carey found a fossil; Miss Price mislaid a glove.
While they were searching, Emelius went ahead; turning a sudden corner, he seemed to
disappear. When at last they came upon him, he was standing in a hollow, knee-deep in
brambles. Among the brambles, there were stones and rubble. It might well have been the ruin
of a house, Carey thought- looking about her-awash with elder bushes and trailing
honeysuckle. Tears of disappointment came to her eyes. "Was it really here? " she asked,
hoping he might be mistaken.
"Indeed, yes," Emelius assured her. He seemed elated rather than depressed-as though this
was proof of his having skipped the centuries. He took Miss Price's hand and helped her
down-quite excited he had become, almost boyish-and left her marooned on a piece of coping
while gingerly he jumped from stone to stone, showing the general layout of the rooms. "Here
was the parlor, here the dairy. This," he explained as he jumped down into a long hollow,
"was the sunken garden where my aunt grew sweet herbs." He kicked the sandy rubble from
some flat stones. "And here the cellar steps." He showed them where the apple orchard had
been and the barn. "It was a comely, neat house," he repeated proudly. "And none to inherit it
save I." When they reached the main road, a strange incident occurred. Emelius disappeared.
One moment he was walking just behind them, and the next he was nowhere to be seen. Miss
Price stopped Dr. Lamond in his old Ford and asked him if he had seen, along the road, a
young man of Emelius's description.
"Yes," said the doctor. "As I turned the corner, he was close behind you; then he made a dart
for that field." They found Emelius behind the hedge, white and shaking. It was the car that
had unnerved him. His panic, in the face of such a monster, had left no place for courtesy. It
was some time before Miss Price could calm him. When the mail van passed them later,
Emelius stood his ground, but the sweat broke on his brow, and he quivered like a horse about
to shy. He did not speak again until they reached home.
6 MAGIC IN MODERATION
Breaking Emelius into twentieth-century life was not easy, but Miss Price had great patience.
He learned to clean his own shoes and to pass the bread and butter at tea. He became more
modern in his speech, and once was heard to say O.K. They had no sooner got him used to
cars when he saw a jeep, and all their good work was undone. Airplanes he marveled at, but
they did not come close enough to frighten him. But daily, as he learned more of the state of
the world, modern inventions and the march of "progress," he clung closer to Miss Price as
the one unassailable force in the midst of nightmarish havoc.
On warm evenings, after the children were in bed, he would be with Miss Price in the garden,
stripping damsons with a rake (for bottling), and they would talk about magic. Carey could
hear them through her window, their voices rising and falling in restrained but earnest
argument as the damsons pattered into the basket and the sun sank low behind the trees. "I
never scrape the scales from an adder," she once heard Miss Price say earnestly. "It takes
force from any spell except those in which hemlock is combined with fennel. The only time I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]