Half-Past Bedtime

er one that flowed through the town in which Marian and Cuthbert lived. The big river was rather muddy, but the little

ough the town, it ran for almost a quarter of a mile through the middle of a sort of wood. It was under the roots of some of these trees, as they pushed through the water into the soil beneath, that the biggest of the trout had their nests, where fishe

ed fly or a blue fly or a fly with pale wings like a distant rain-cloud floating down on the top of the water and probably wondering where it had got to; and then they would hear a little noise like grown-up people make with the tips of their tongues against the roofs of their mouths; and then the

this would be a sham fly, made of feathers and silk, cunningly tied round a sharp hook, and he would thread it on to a piece of gut so thin that they could hardly see it. Then he would tie the gut

had found himself caught, and they had seen the fisherman's rod bent almost double as the trout dashed to and fro; and at last they had seen the fisherman slip a net into the water, and lift the trout on to the bank

a terrible railway accident soon after he had married her. She had left him with a little girl only ten months old, and that was why Ned had let his beard grow. He hadn't time, he said, to look after the little

Liz after her mother; and sooner or later he would always come back to this river, because that was where he had first met his dead wife. He had lived so much in the open air that his skin was as dark as a Red Indian's, and when he laughed his teeth were like s

d Doris and Gwendolen loved her almost as much as they loved Beardy Ned. For Beardy Ned, in spite of his great trouble, was alway

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out he would shout it at the top of his voice, but when she was

was cold, but the air above it was warm and still, and he was lying on the bank without anything on, when he suddenly heard a splash and a gurgling cry. He sat bolt upright, and then, looking across the pool, he saw a little form struggling in the deep water, an

rayed to God that he might be in time. The pool had never looked so wide. But at last he had swum across it and made a grab at a piece of Liz's frock just under the surface. He pulled this hard, and

outed as loud as he could just before he plunged into the pool. Ned's face had turned grey, and there was a look in his eyes that made Cuthbert feel almost frightened. But when he saw Liz sitting up and crying he gave a shout and caught her in his arms. Then he gripped Cuthbert by the wrist, and Cuthbert could feel

ook him by t

said, "and have

s a little beach. From the top of the bank a great tree had fallen, with its roots sticking up in the air, and under the trunk there was just room enough for Beardy Ned and Liz to sleep. He had p

home. They had trout for supper, and drank tea, and Liz, who was almost asleep, had a cup of milk; and then they ate biscuits, and jam out of a pot, and Beardy Ned filled his pipe. He had made Liz take

ng a lot, but at last

nd I can never pay you back. But I'll show you a

e was rather pleased. But Be

s where I first saw this one too, but that's neither here nor there. She was just nineteen. She'd been paddling in the stream. I called ou

his head

es a fox,

f the fire was like somebody talking to them. But the s

end of a candle. It looked like an ordinary candle, wi

arkins, that was his name-and there's not another like

his hand, as though he were weighi

d, "where candles goes to-where

o," said Cuthbert. "

tle, and Beardy N

nd-the place as is in between everything you can see. How do I kn

aid Cuthbert politely, but B

with it, and this is the candle. When he first gave it me, two year ago, it was about eight inches long. But I've used it a lot, and after you've blowed it out, and it's taken y

it to

"You've saved my little girl's lif

last bit," s

what's there. That

asked Cuthbert. "It

trees and things, all kind of misty, and the houses in the towns, and the people in the houses. And you sees 'em quarrelling and the like, and grievi

nd he shifted her on

t no time there, not as we reckons time. But once you've be

held out

he said. "It would

ick from the fire. He lit the end of

ou'll go out with it. It'll be all

e-they all seemed too stupid even to bother about. He felt like a prisoner just set free. He knew that he was really free, and that nothing could ever hurt him. Then he began to see things-the fire of sticks, the stream beyond, and the dusky meadows. But they looked just like dream-sticks, and a dream-fire, and there were real things beyond them whose names he di

. Cuthbert was back again in the ordinary wo

," he said, "

rose to

he said. "They'll be won

Ned n

od night,

ht," said

mbed t

y Ned. He was still sitting there with Liz on his knees, and Cuthbert saw him stoop an

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the thing

handle, ta

land wher

life's en

that untro

eyes amuse

ill in tim

infant wor

MAGI

Magi