The Story Of The Treasure Seekers Chapter 13: Bedtime Story

Hello dear ones,

And welcome to today's reading,

The Story of the Treasure Seekers,

By Edith Nesbitt.

Today's reading is our final chapter of the story.

CHAPTER XIII THE END OF THE TREASURE SEEKING Now it is coming near the end of our treasure seeking,

And the end was so wonderful that now nothing is like it used to be.

It is like as if our fortunes had been in an earthquake,

And after those,

You know,

Everything comes out the wrong way up.

It was destined to be a day when things happened,

Yet no sign of this appeared in the early morning.

Then all was misery and upsetness.

None of us felt quite right,

And I don't know why,

And Father had one of his awful colds.

So Dora persuaded him not to go to London,

But to stay cosy and warm in the study,

And she made him some gruel.

She makes it better than Eliza does.

Eliza's gruel is all little lumps,

And when you suck them,

It's dry oatmeal inside.

We kept as quiet as we could,

And I made H.

O.

Do some lessons,

Like the G.

B.

Had advised us to do,

But it was very dull.

There are some days when you seem to have got the end of all things that could ever possibly happen to you,

And you feel you will spend all the rest of your life doing dull things just in the same way.

Days like this are generally wet days,

But as I said,

You never know.

Then Dickie said if things went on like this,

He should run away to sea,

And Alice said she thought it would be rather nice to go into a convent.

H.

O.

Was a little disagreeable because of the powder Eliza had given him,

So he tried to read two books at once,

One with each eye,

Just because Noel wanted one of the books,

Which was very selfish of him,

So it only made his headache worse.

H.

O.

Is getting old enough now to learn by experience that it is wrong to be selfish,

And when he complained about his head,

Oswald told him whose fault it was,

Because I am older than he is,

And it is my duty to show him where he is wrong.

But he began to cry,

And then Oswald had to cheer him up because of father wanting to be quiet.

So Oswald said,

They'll eat,

H.

O.

,

If you don't look out,

And Dora said Oswald was bad.

Of course Oswald was not going to interfere again,

So he went to look out of the window and to see the trams go by,

And H.

O.

Came and looked out too,

And Oswald,

Who knows when to be generous and forgiving,

Gave him a piece of blue pencil and two nibs,

As good as new,

To keep.

As they were looking out at the rain splashing on the stones in the street,

They saw a four-wheeled cab come lumbering up from the way that the station is.

Oswald called out,

Here comes the coach of the Fairy Godmother.

It'll stop here.

You see if it doesn't.

So they all came to the window to look.

Oswald had only said that about stopping,

And was then stricken with wonder and amaze when the cab really did stop.

The cabman got down,

And someone inside handed over so many parcels of different shapes and sizes,

And the cabman stood holding them in his arms and grinning over them.

Dora said,

It's a pity someone doesn't tell him this isn't the house.

And then from inside the cab,

Someone put out a foot,

Feeling for the step,

Like a tortoise's foot coming out from under his shell when you were holding him off of the ground.

And then a leg came out,

And more parcels.

Then the man came to the door,

And father answered,

And he and father went into the study,

And the door was shut.

We went down and looked at the parcels.

Some were done up in old dirty newspapers and tied with bits of rag,

And some were in brown paper and string from the shops,

And there were boxes.

We wondered if the uncle had come to stay,

And was this his luggage,

Or was it to sell?

Some of it smelt of spices,

Like merchandise,

And one bundle that Alice felt was certain was a bail.

We heard a hand on the knob of the study door after a bit,

And Alice said,

Fly,

And we all got away but HO,

And the uncle caught him by the legs as he was trying to get upstairs after us.

Peeping at the baggage,

Eh?

Said the man,

And the rest of us came down,

Because it would have been dishonourable to leave HO alone in a scrape,

And we wanted to see what was in the parcels.

I didn't touch them,

Said HO.

No harm done if you did touch,

Said the good,

Kind man,

For all of these parcels are for you.

I have several times told you about our being dumb with amazement and terror and joy and things like that,

But I never remember us being dumber than we were when he said this.

Have you come from India,

Uncle?

Noel asked,

And when the man said yes,

We were all very much surprised,

For we never thought of his being that sort of Indian,

From India.

We thought he was a red Indian kind,

And of course his not being accounted for his ignorance of beavers and things like that.

He got Eliza to help,

And we took all the parcels into the nursery,

And he undid them and undid them and undid them some more,

Until the papers lay thick on the floor.

Father came too,

And sat in the guy Fork's chair.

I cannot begin to tell you all the things that that kind friend of uncle's had sent us.

He must be a very agreeable person.

There were toys for the kids,

And model engines for Dick and me,

And a lot of books,

And Japanese China tea sets for the girls,

Red and white and gold,

And there were sweets by the pound and by the box,

And long yards and yards of soft silk from India to make frocks for the girls,

And a real Indian sword for Oswald,

And a book of Japanese pictures for Noel,

And some ivory chessmen for Dickie.

The castles of the chessmen are elephants and castles.

There is a railway station called that.

I never knew what it meant before.

The brown paper bag and string parcels had boxes of games in them,

And big cases of preserved fruits and things,

And the shabby old newspaper parcels and the boxes had the Indian things in.

I never saw so many beautiful things before.

There were carved fans and silver bangles and strings of amber beads,

And necklaces of uncut gems,

Turquoises and garnets,

And uncle said they were,

And shawls and scarves of silk,

And cabinets of brown and gold,

And ivory boxes and silver trays,

And brass things.

The uncle kept saying,

This is for you,

Young man,

Or little Alice will like this fan,

Or Miss Dora would look well in this green silk,

I think,

Eh?

And father looked on as if it were a dream,

Until the uncle suddenly gave him an ivory paper knife and a box of cigars,

And said,

My old friend sent you these,

And he winked at my father,

And H.

O.

Saw him,

And my father winked back,

Though he has always told us not to wink.

That was such a wonderful day.

It was a treasure and no mistake.

I never saw such heaps and heaps of presents,

Like things out of a fairy tale,

And even Eliza had a shawl.

Perhaps she deserved it,

For she did cook rabbit and pudding.

And Oswald says it's not her fault if her nose does turn up,

And she doesn't brush her hair.

I do not think Eliza likes brushing things.

It's the same with the carpets.

But Oswald tries to make allowances even for people who do not wash their ears.

The uncle came to see us often after that,

And his friend always sent us something from India.

Once he tipped us a sovereign each,

The uncle brought it,

And once he sent us money to go to the Crystal Palace,

And uncle took us,

And another time to a circus,

And when Christmas was near,

The uncle said,

Remember when I dined with you some time ago now?

You promised to dine with me some day,

If I could ever afford to give a dinner party.

Well,

I'm going to have one,

A Christmas party.

Not on Christmas Day,

Because everyone goes home then,

But the day after.

Cold mutton and rice pudding.

You'll come?

We said we should be delighted,

If father had no objection of course,

Because that is the proper thing to say.

And the poor uncle said,

No,

Your father won't object,

He's coming too,

Bless your soul.

And we all got Christmas presents for the uncle.

The girls made him a handkerchief case and a comb bag out of some of the pieces of silk that he had given them.

I got him a knife with three blades.

H.

O.

Got a siren whistle,

A very strong one,

And Dickie joined with me in the knife,

And no one would give the man an ivory box that uncle's friend had sent on a wonderful fairy cab day.

He said it was the very nicest thing he had,

And he was sure uncle wouldn't mind his not having bought it with his own money.

I think father's business must have got better.

Perhaps uncle's friend put money into it,

And that it did good,

Like feeding the starving.

Anyway,

Because we all had new suits,

And the girls had green silk from India,

Made into frocks,

And on boxing day we went in two cabs,

Father and the girls in one,

And us boys in the other.

We wondered very much where the Indian uncle lived,

Because we had not been told.

And we thought when the cab began to pull up over the hill,

Towards the heath,

That perhaps the uncle lived in one of the pokey little houses,

Up at the top of Greenwich.

But the cab went right over the heath,

And in at some big gates,

And through a shrubbery,

All white with frost like a fairy forest,

Because it was Christmas time.

And at last we stopped before one of those jolly big ugly red houses,

With lots of windows,

That are so comfortable inside.

And on the steps was the uncle,

Looking very big and grand,

In a blue cloth coat,

And yellow seal skin waistcoat,

With a bunch of seals hanging from it.

I wonder whether he has taken a place as a butler here,

Said Dickie.

A poor broken down man.

Noel thought it was very likely,

Because he knew that in these big houses there were always thousands of stately butlers.

The uncle came down the steps and opened the cab door himself,

Which I don't think butlers would expect to have to do.

And he took us in.

It was a lovely hall,

With bear and tiger skins on the floor,

And a big clock with the faces of the sun and the moon,

Dodging out when it was night or day,

And for the time,

With a scythe coming out at the hours.

And the name on it was Flint Ashwood.

1776.

And there was a fox eating a stuffed duck in a glass case,

And horns of stags,

And other animals over the doors.

We'll just come into my study first,

Said the uncle,

And wish each other a Merry Christmas.

So then we knew he wasn't the butler,

But it must be his own house,

But only the master of the house has a study.

His study was not much like father's at all.

It had hardly any books,

But swords and guns and newspapers and a great many boots,

And boxes half unpacked with more Indian things bulging out of them.

We gave him our presents,

And he was awfully pleased.

Then he gave us our Christmas presents.

You must be tired of hearing about presents by now,

But I must remark that all the uncle's presents were watches.

There was a watch for each of us,

With our names engraved inside.

All silver,

Except he chose,

And that was a Waterbury,

To match his boots,

The uncle said.

And I don't know what he meant.

Then the uncle looked at father,

And father said,

You tell them,

Sir.

So the uncle coughed,

And stood up and made a speech.

He said,

Ladies and gentlemen,

We met together to discuss an important subject which has for some weeks engrossed the attention of the honourable member opposite,

And myself.

I said,

Hear,

Hear,

And Alice whispered,

What happened to the guinea pig?

Of course you know the answer to that.

The uncle went on.

I am going to live in this house,

And as it's rather big for me,

Your father has agreed that he and you shall come and live with me,

And so if you are agreeable,

We are all going to live here together,

And please God,

It'll be a happy home for us all,

Eh?

He blew his nose,

And kissed us all round.

As it was Christmas,

I did not mind much,

Although I am much too old for it on other dates.

Then he said,

Thank you all very much for your presents,

But I've got a present here I value more than anything else I have.

I thought it was not quite polite of him to say so,

Until I saw that what he valued so much was a three penny bit on his watch chain,

And of course I saw it must be the one that we had given him.

And then the uncle took us all over the house,

Which is the most comfortable one I have ever been in.

There is a beautiful portrait of our mother in father's sitting room.

The uncle must be very rich indeed.

This ending is like what happens in Dickens's books,

But I think it was much jollier to happen like a book,

And it shows what a nice man the uncle is,

The way that he did it all.

Think how flat it would have been if the uncle had said,

When we first offered him the one and three pence farthing,

Oh,

I don't want your money,

I'm very rich indeed.

Instead of which he saved up the news of his wealth until Christmas,

And then told us all in one glorious burst.

Besides,

I can't help it if it's like Dickens,

Because it happened this way.

Real life is often something like books.

Presently,

When we had seen the house,

We were taken into the drawing room,

And there was Mrs.

Leslie,

Who gave us shillings and wished us good hunting,

And Lord Tottenham,

And Albert Next Door's uncle,

And Albert Next Door,

And his mother.

I'm not very fond of her.

And best of all,

Our own robber and his two kids,

And our robber had a new suit on.

The uncle told us he had asked the people who had been kind to us,

And Noel said,

Where is my noble editor that I wrote the poetry to?

The uncle said he had not the courage to ask a strange editor to dinner,

But Lord Tottenham was an old friend of uncle's,

And he had introduced uncle to Mrs.

Leslie,

And that was how he had the pride and pleasure of welcoming her to our house warming,

And he made her bow,

Like you see on a Christmas card.

Then Alice said,

What about Mr.

Rosenbaum?

He was kind.

It would have been a pleasant surprise for him.

But everybody laughed,

And uncle said,

Your father has paid him the sovereign he lent you.

I don't think he could have borne another pleasant surprise.

Then it was time for dinner,

And we thought of uncle's talk about cold mutton and rice.

But it was a beautiful dinner,

And I never saw such a dessert.

We had hours on plates to take away into another sitting room,

Which was much jollier than sitting round the table with the grown-ups.

But the robber's kids stayed with their father.

They were very shy and frightened,

And said hardly anything,

But looked all about with very bright eyes.

Hecho thought they were like white mice,

And afterwards we got to know them very well,

And in the end they were not so mousy.

And there is a good deal of interesting stuff to tell about them,

But I shall put it all in another book.

There is no room left in this one.

We played desert islands all afternoon,

And drank uncle's health in ginger wine.

It was Hecho that upset his over Alice's green silk dress,

And she never even riled him.

Brothers ought not to have favourites,

And Oswald would never be so mean as to have a favourite sister,

Or,

If he had,

Wild horses should not make him tell who it was.

And now we are to go on living in the big house on the heath,

And it is all very jolly.

Mrs.

Leslie often comes to see us,

And our own robber,

And Albert next door's uncle.

Our uncle likes him,

Because he has been in India too.

And I am to go to rugby,

And so are Noel and Hecho,

And perhaps to Balliol afterwards.

That's my father's college.

It has two separate coats of arms,

Which many other colleges are not allowed.

Noel is going to be a poet,

And Dickie wants to go into father's business.

The uncle is a real good sort,

And just think,

We might never have found him if we hadn't made up our minds to be treasure-seekers.

Noel made up a poem about it.

Lo,

The poor Indian from lands afar,

Comes where the treasure-seekers are.

We looked for treasure,

But we find,

The best treasure of all Is our uncle,

Good and kind.

I thought it was rather rot,

But Alice would show it to the uncle,

And he liked it very much.

He kissed Alice,

And he smacked Noel on the back,

And said,

I don't think I've done so badly either,

If you come to that.

Though I was never a professional treasure-seeker.