England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; Spiritualism -- Fiction
The discovery of the connection, made last night, between himself in the
night-nursery and his mother on the lawn, which proved that the lawn and
the house were part of the same thing, produced further results that
day. Instead of memory consisting of different and severed pictures, it
began to flow into one coherent whole. He knew, of course, already that
at the end of the nursery passage was a wooden wicket-gate, and that
outside that was the long gallery that skirted round three sides of the
hall, while on the fourth ran a broad staircase each step of which had
to be surmounted and descended either by a series of jumps, or, if the
feet were tired, by the extension of one foot on to the next stair where
it was joined by the other; but he began now to put these isolated facts
together, and form them into the conception of a house. When the
staircase was negotiated you found yourself in a large oak-floored hall,
where you were not allowed to slide on purpose, though both Blessington
and his mother had the sense to distinguish between deliberate and
unintentional slidings. There were bright rugs spread here and there
over the hall, forming islands in a glassy sea. Archie knew it was not
made of glass really, but he chose to think that it was, for it had the
qualities of a looking-glass in that it reflected his own bare-legged
form above it, and the slipperiness of glass as exhibited in the
window-panes of the nursery, and he chose also to think that it was to
the hall-floor that the hymn alluded which was sung last Sunday morning
in a dazzling and populous place to which his mother had taken him. The
people who sang loudest were two rows of boys dressed in crinkly white
night-shirts, in company with some grown-up men who were attired in the
same curious manner. But none of them went to bed, and at a pause in the
proceedings Archie had suddenly asked his mother, in a piercing voice,
why they didn't go to bed. Evidently that had puzzled her too, for she
had no reply to give him except "Hush, darling!" which wasn't an answer
at all. Then another man had begun talking all by himself. He had a
quantity of hair on his chin which wagged in so delightful a manner when
he spoke that Archie watched him entranced for a little, and then,
afraid that his mother was missing this lovely sight, said:
"O mummy, _isn't_ that a funny man?"
Upon which Blessington, magically communicated with, appeared by his
side and whispered that they were going for a walk, and towed him down
the aisle, still rapturously looking back at the funny man. Archie had
thought it all very entertaining, but he was told afterwards by his
father that he had disgraced himself and should not go to church again
for many Sundays to come.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account