The Phoenix and the Carpet

lept till it was ten o'clock; and then it was only Cyril who woke; but he attended to the others, so that by half past ten every

cupboard under the stairs and listened with delight to the entrance-the tumble, the splash, the scuffle, and the remarks of the servants. They heard the cook say it was a judgement on them for leaving the place to itself; she seemed to think that a booby tra

a silent struggle for a place on top ended in the door bursting open and

to say what she thought of them, 'don't you begin jawing us. We aren't going to stand it. We know to

it, so I tell you. You tell your ma about us being out? Much I care! She'll be sorry for me when she hears about my dear great-aunt by marriage as brought me up from a child and was

stress. 'You know where liars go

liza, 'I won't demean

d Robert, 'and DID you

the housema

th Maria or Emil

sser enjoy herse

nt on, addressing the servants. 'If you are decent to us we'll be decent to you. You'd better make th

gave in onc

e in the nursery. 'People are always talking of difficulties with servants. It's quite simple, when you know the way.

down from its roost on the curtain pole. 'I've given you one or two

chair and swayed to and fr

e she was still weary from the excitement of last night's cats. 'I'm tired of thin

darn! From those young lips

d Anthea, 'with a

d and shut its wi

rpet-look at the bare worn patches, look at the great rent at yonder corner. The carpet has

e. You make me feel as if I'd done something wrong. And really it is a

asked of it? But this noble fabric, on which you trample so recklessly' (every one removed its boots from the carpet and stood on the linoleum), 'this carpet never flinched. It did what you asked, but the

rats were worse,' said Robe

ed and forty of them-I daresay you noticed? I sho

nly on the floor, and patting the edge of the

not been a luxurious

. Goodness knows where in Persia once. Musk-rat-land once. And once, wherever the cow ca

hem as they saw how those eleven thoousand nine hundred and forty claws had run through the carpet. It was full of little

n if there's no time to do them properly. I know it's awful and no girl would who respected herself, and all

r, ordinary Scotch heather-mixture fingering seemed good enough, and this they bought, and all that day Jane and Anthea darned and darned and darned. The boys went

a carpet with a past-a Persian past. Do you know that in happier years, when that car

the proper home of a ca

th pearl and ivory, wrapped in priceless tissues of cloth of gold, embroidered with gems of fabulous value. It has reposed in the sandal-wood caskets of princesses, and in the rose-attar-scent

you'd never have been hatched at all if it hadn't b

come, dry that crystal tear, and I will relate to you the story

said Anthea-'I

the bird, 'had in her cradle been the subject of seve

ert suddenly burst into the room, and on each brow were the traces of deep emotion. On Cyril's pale bro

dded tartly that story-telling was quite impossi

any sake!' said Cyril

ruffled golden fea

FUL thing has happened, and stories don't seem to matter so much

Anthea and Jane paused with long needles poised in air, and long nee

That nice chap-our own burglar-the police have got him, on susp

beginning!' cried

, and of course we went to have a squint. And it was two bobbies and our burglar between them, and he was being dragged along; an

e said, no, he couldn't; but he could take them there if they'd only leave go of his coat collar, and give him a chance to get h

ow COULD you?

d. They'd have thought we were kidding. We did better than let him see us. We asked a boy where he lived and he told us, and we went there, and

out this morning with the two likeliest of them, one under each arm. She said he sent her out to buy blue ribbon to put round their beastly necks, and she said if he got three months' hard it was her dying word that he'd got the blue rib

or Cyril seemed like a clock that had been wound

s they'd put him in the cells, and would bring him up before the Beak in the morni

k,' said the Phoe

girls jumping up. 'Let's go and te

you with such a tale, you couldn't believe it, however m

t. And he was so nice, the way he talked about his father, and how he was going to be so extra honest. Dear P

its beak thoughtf

nd conceal him here, till the law-s

any moment, and if he found the burglar here HE wouldn't believe the true truth any more than the poli

apped h

'where the cook is being queen. He an

not seem bad, if only

ranged to wait till evening, and then to

For all felt how terrible it would be if the precious burglar, while being carried to the sunny southe

oring in a heartfelt and candid manner, the children got up-they had never undressed; just putting their nightgowns on over their things h

burglar's lonely cell.'

d by heavy fetters to a ring in the damp stone wall, would be tossing uneasily on a bed of straw, with a pitcher of water and a mouldering crust

ow, and a water-proof pillow. Rolled in the rugs, and with his head on the pillow, lay the burglar, fast asleep. (He had had his tea, though this the children did not know-it had come from the coffee

d him down. Anthea and Jane and the Phoenix can whi

nough, was much stronger, even in his sleep, than Robert and Cyril, and at the f

side. Anthea threw her arms ro

. We've come to save you, only don't let

e flagged passage outside

top that ro

, still with Anthea's arms round him; 'I w

the boots and the voice come

tow it,

way, along the passage and u

,' whispe

et in?' asked the burglar, in

pet,' said

'One on you I could 'a' swallow

believed any one if they'd told you beforehand about

rglar, with whispered fervour,

o you any HARM, you know,' he went on in hoarse whispered earnestness. 'You can't be very much worse off than you are now, you know. Bu

burglar. 'I've always wanted to go on that there trip, b

d Cyril, well meaning, but inaccurat

atched his head

iving anywheres nowadays,' h

but how about a sunny southern shore, where th

rglar. 'I never did care about work-not

any sort of work?' a

was my 'obby, so it was. But father died a

hern shore,' said Jane; 'you've n

here,' said Anthe

a judgement on me. I don't know now whether I'm a-standing on my hat or my boots, so help me I don't. If you CAN get me out, get me, and if you

ing. The others quietly pulled, and the moment the feet

n the sunny southern

and flower, and there, of course, was the cook, crowned with white flowers, and wi

the tumble-rush-whirl of the carpet. The burglar stood rubbing his eyes in the brilli

he exclaimed pensively, 'and well wor

r court of copper-coloured savages around her

y bite or scratch, or do anything to yer wit

nonsense about what a young lady like me ought to say or not, so I'll say you're the best-looking fellow I've seen this many a day. And th

e straight outer the pleece station. These 'e

ar, you know,' said the

ell you knows, miss,' rejoined the criminal. 'Blowed if

' asked the queen, 'and so

u all the same,' was the reply; 'but a bath I wouldn't

where he bathed luxuriously. Then, in shir

her-her with the white bokay on her 'ed-s

uld as

' the man went on; 'it's a wo

reath which Cyril hastily wove as they returned to the cour

-like, both on us, in this 'ere dream, or whatever you cal

d and looked d

in my 'abits, which these kids'll tell you the same, and I'd l

en cook, ''ow sudde

married,' said Anthea. 'Why not get ma

o,' said the burglar

n church, if at all-and, anyway, I don't believe these here savages would know how to keep a registering office, even if I was

e get a clergyman?' aske

pulling his wreath straight. ''Ow this 'er

e of Cyril's cap with a piece of billiard chalk Robert had got from the marker at the hotel at Lyndhurst. The carpet disappear

in his own study, he naturally walked on it to examine it more closely. And he happened to stand on one of the thin places that Jane and Anth

r him, he saw the sunny southern shore, the cook and the burglar and the children quite plainly; but through them all he saw, quite plainly

arried the burglar to the cook. The cook said that she would rather have had a solider kind of a c

id. When the ceremony was over the clergyman wandered about the island collecting botanical sp

h copper-coloured savages, round the happy couple, the queen cook and the burglar consort? There were more flowers gathered and thro

some one to put my arm around of; and I've got the whole lot of this 'ere island for my allotment, and if I don't grow some broccoli as'll open the judge's eye at the cottage flower shows, well, strike me pink! All I ask is, as these young gents and ladies'll bring some parsley seed into the dream, and a penn'orth of ra

ight-though it was t

ve. They also collected the clergyman and took h

to the burglar and his bride, and returned wit

lotment,' it said, 'and she is weaving him a sh

Kentish Town Police Station his escape is still s

nd took his two maiden aunts to Paris, where they enjoyed a dazzling round of museums and picture galleries, and came back feeling that they had indeed seen life. He neve