The Phoenix and the Carpet

here on the carpet for a whol

f it,' said Jan

aid Cyril

heir aunt's at Lyndhurst, and how father and mother would meet them there, having been read by ever

we did at granny's once-and extras in between, toys and chocs and things like that. I want everything to be just real, and no fancy things hap

the jolliest places,' said Cyril, thoughtfully. 'As it is, we've j

EEL it is,' said Anthea,

you knew it and didn't feel i

ked up mother's letter and wiped its corners with his handkerchief, to wh

ngs; don't let's waste the day in saying how horrid it is to keep secrets from mother, when we all know Anthea tried all she knew to give her the

l, 'let's. It's

d-however little you wish it at other times. Couldn't we wish the carpet to take us somewhere where we sh

e're going, and that'll be exciting. No one knows w

w, like St Bernard dogs, with barrels round ou

ert, 'and we should see the old man hide it away in the secret cupboard; and then, after lo

taken to some freezing garret in a German t

would be getting into the middle of a war and getting hold of secret intelligence and

on it, together with the Phoenix, who had been especially invited, as a Christmas

bird were ready, and

feel the topsy-turvy swirl of the ca

selves on the carpet, and the carpet was in its proper

id Cyril, '

wishing part of it, I mean?' Ro

the Phoenix; 'but-we

eep disgust; 'it's like the end of a fairy sto

the bare heathens. Well, I simply won't. And the last day and everything. Look here!' Cyril spoke loudly and firmly. 'We want to go somewhere

ur children and one bird fell in a heap together,

reathlessly, through the black dark

ry and wet it is! Ugh!-oh!-I

aid Anthea, hopelessly. She felt

ere, of course, no one could see anything, drew out of his pocket a box of matches, struck a match

Cyril's natural brotherly feelings could no

r day,' said Robert, with modest pride. 'I knew we shoul

n I was feeling in your Norfolks for the knife you borrowed off me. But I t

are? This is the underground passage, and look there-

the light of the candles, and no one cou

and kind acts in, though,' said Ja

ht find a prisoner who has languished here for years and years, and we c

ther off; 'or we might find the bones of a poor prisoner and take them to his friends to be bur

wouldn't,'

too,' Robert went on. 'You see that dark arch j

t,' said Jane, firmly, 'I shall scre

l, too,' s

d at being checked in

tterly. 'They just love to think of things in dunge

ould decide how you began when you wanted to faint, t

s that you have inside you. And you did not invite me to come out with you

t here,' said

hing we can do here, it seems, is to

m not so VERY little,' sai

who suggested that perhaps they

and it wouldn't be good, whatever way you look at

it all on benefits to the

it right to steal,'

ing up now. 'Stealing is taking things that bel

t be ste

tand here all day arguing while the candles burn out. Y

pet and went. But when they had crept along to the place where the passage led into th

bert. 'I hope yo

d the Phoenix, softly; 'even a

o first with one of the candles, because he was the one who

nes into our heads,' said

ad them. More bones tha

ings and dark alcoves that the girls did not much like passing

n to the following feet of Jane, and

s all. Don't mention it; I like it. The stairs just go right slap into the ceiling, a

ng-stones as a general rule,' said the P

said the injured Robert

nd was already shoving his hardest against the st

l. And he stopped shoving and be

s a bolt. I c

with the exertion of keeping up this unnatural position. Then he tried again, but still the bolt would not move. So now he tied his handkerchief-the one with the bacon-fat and marmalade on it-to the bolt, and Robert's handkerchief to that, in a reef knot, which cannot come undone however much you pull, and, indeed, gets tighter and tighter the more you pull it.

w, indeed, the shoulders of the boys were used to some purpose, for the sto

ting his head and his temper, 'pu

inst something that kept it upright. Every one climbed out, but there was not room for every one to stand comfortably in the little paved house where t

d of tiny chapel with no front wall-just a place for people to stop and rest in and wish to be good. So the Phoenix told them. There was an image that had once been brightly coloured, but the rain and snow had beaten in through the open front of the shrine, and the poor image was dull and weather-stained. Under it was written: 'St Jean de Luz. Priez pour nous.' It was a sad little

, 'what is the good and kind actio

d the owners of the treasure and

t them ALL?

ut whos

me of the owner of the castle,' said the golde

unded by draggled hart's-tongue ferns, now hardly green at all. Here the children washed their hands and faces and dried them on their pocket-handkerchiefs, which always, on these oc

late roof. It stood in a prim little garden, and down each side of the neat path

it. It was wider than our English verandas, and Anthea thought it must look lovely when the green leaves and the grap

de it, and joined itself quite openly to a rusty bell that hung under the porch. Cyril had pulled

athed. 'We don't

aper or oak shavings, stood before them. She had an ugly grey dress and a black silk apron. He

foreign language, and ended with something which they wer

acket, where the Phoenix was nestling. But before the Phoenix could answ

ch the England. Mais entrez-entrez donc tous! Enter, then-enter

wanted

at what you wish,' said

on a very clean mat, and putting the

hut the door, 'did pass themselves in England. And since long

uch very clean red and white tiles, and the floor of the sitting-room so very shiny-like a bla

and there were chairs and a table, very slim and polite, with slender legs. The room was extremely bare, but with a bright foreign bareness that was very cheerful, in an odd way of its own. At the end of the polished table a very un-English litt

eant the little French boy, with the velvety s

a very red little flower-pot, and hung round with very bright little things made of tins

genteel?' said the lady. 'Sit

the wood flame, and then she drew the curtains and lit the little candles, and when they were all lighted the litt

d out fluttered the Phoenix-spread his gold wings, fl

the lady; 'it will itself

said Robert,

; but the lady was so anxious that the Phoenix fluttered d

it talks?' a

n excellent French. It sa

' said the lady. 'Can it s

time in English, 'Why are yo

And, of course, the lady began to cry again, very much indeed, after calling the Phoenix a bird without a heart; and she could not find her handkerchief, so Anthea offered hers, which was still very damp and no use at

d,' said Anthea, 'but we really only wanted

sell it to some strangers-and my little Henri, who ignores all, he will not have never the lands paternal. But what will you? His father, my broth

a lot of money-hundreds and thous

y smile

time; oh! but long time, one of our ancestors has hid a treasure-of gold, and of gold, and of gold-en

spered the Phoenix to Robert.

ar she should faint for joy, like people in books, and they

he treasure, 'because you would find it a little difficult to understand, and much more d

t Robert as she absently ret

said Anthea; 'it's true, TR

t an old woman?' she said; 'and it

aid Cyril; 'and I cong

s seemed to convince more tha

come to Manon-and you-you shall come a

isitors, and when the lady had put on a stiff black cape and a wonderful black silk bonnet and a pair of black wooden clogs over her black cashmere house-boots, the whole party wen

her trembling French speech, told the story. And now the priest, who knew no

'that her troubles have turned her b

t it's all about the pencil of the gardener's son and the penkn

rd whispered, 'he'll

e what

Phoenix; and then Robert earned the undying respect of e

ossoo; venny

at any rate, he saw that if the lady was mad she was not the only one, and he put on a big beavery hat, and

I will go first and s

nd they all followed and found the golden treasure exactly as they had left it. An

and the lady embraced all the children three times each, and called them 'little garden angels,' and then she and the priest shook each other by both hands ag

Phoenix softly, breakin

and the lady and the priest were so tearfully, talkatively ha

pread it out and said 'Home,' and no one saw them disappear, except little Henri, who had flattened his nose into a white b

a, when they talked it over at tea-time. 'In the f

said the

pardon?' s

id the bird. 'I w