Half-Past Bedtime Read online

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  HALF-PAST BEDTIME

  _By the Same Author_

  THE CORNER OF HARLEY STREET PITY THE POOR BLIND VAGABONDS IN PERIGORD SONGS OUT OF SCHOOL THE PLAIN GIRL'S TALE

  HALF-PAST BEDTIME]

  HALF-PASTBEDTIME

  _BY_H. H. BASHFORD

  AUTHOR OF"THE CORNER OF HARLEY STREET" ETC.

  _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR_

  HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANYBOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO

  TOJOE & ADA MAGGSAND THE CHILDREN THAT LOVE THEM

  When Farmer Sun with rosy wink Says good-bye all, and drives away, When safe in fold the sheep-bells clink, And hard-worked horses munch their hay,

  When brown and blue eyes sleepy grow, And Nurse downstairs clears up the crumbs, When God pulls down His blind, and so What people call the twilight comes,

  Then lazy Moon lifts up her arm, Shakes back her hair and smooths her beams, And softly over field and farm Scatters the milk-white seed of dreams.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I. MR JUGG 13 II. GWENDOLEN 29 III. THE LITTLE ICE-MEN 45 IV. UNCLE JOE'S STORY 61 V. BEARDY NED 75 VI. THE MAGIC SONG 89 VII. THE IMAGINARY BOY 105 VIII. THE HILL THAT REMEMBERED 121 IX. ST UNCUS 137 X. OLD MOTHER HUBBARD 151 XI. MARIAN'S PARTY 167 XII. THE SORROWFUL PICTURE 183 XIII. THE MOON-BOY'S FRIEND 199 XIV. THE CHRISTMAS TREE 215

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  PAGE HALF-PAST BEDTIME _Frontispiece_ MARIAN AND MR JUGG 12 MONKEY ISLAND 28 CUTHBERT AND DORIS 44 BELLA AT EDEN 60 BEARDY NED'S FIRE 74 THE MAGIC SONG 88 THE HAUNTED WOOD 104 CAESAR'S CAMP 120 DORIS AND ST UNCUS 136 MOTHER HUBBARD'S 150 THE LITTLE TEMPLE 166 PORTO BLANCO 182 THE LAGOON 198 STILL TALKING 214

  MR JUGG

  Marian and Mr. Jugg]

  I

  MR JUGG

  The name of the town doesn't really matter; but it was a big town in themiddle of the country; and the first of these adventures happened to alittle girl whose Christian name was Marian. She was only seven when ithappened to her, so that it was rather a young sort of adventure; butthe older ones happened later on, and this is the best, perhaps, tobegin with.

  Marian's house was in a street called Peter Street, because there was achurch in it called St Peter's Church; and some people liked thischurch, because it had a great spire soaring up into the sky. ButMarian's daddy didn't like spires, because they were so sharp and soslippery. He liked towers better, because the old church towers, hesaid, were like little laps, ready to catch God's blessing. But Marian'sdaddy was a queer sort of man, and nobody took much notice of what hesaid.

  At the other end of Peter Street there was a field in which some peoplewere beginning to build houses, and Marian used to love going into thisfield to watch the builders at work. But one afternoon she became tiredof watching them, and so she climbed over a gate into the next field.Here the grass was so tall that it tickled Marian's chin. There weregreat daisies in it, taller than the grass, and they looked intoMarian's eyes. They had calm faces like Marian's mummy's nurney's face,and they didn't mind a bit when Marian picked them. There were alsobuttercups, shiny and fat, like the man in the butcher's shop who wasalways smiling.

  This was such a big field that when Marian came to the middle of it thevoices of the builders were quite faint, and the tinkle of their trowelson the edges of the bricks sounded like sheep-bells a long way off. Whenshe turned round she could see the roofs of the houses, and the tops ofthe chimneys, and the spires of the churches all trembly because of theheat, as if they were tired and wanted to lie down. But they couldn'tlie down, although they were so much older and bigger and stronger thanMarian. "I'd rather be me," thought Marian, and when she had picked abundle of flowers she lay down in the deep grass.

  It was so hot that, when once they had become used to her, the stalks ofthe grasses stood quite still. She could see hundreds and hundreds ofthem, like trees in a forest, or people in church waiting for theanthem. Up in the hills it was different. There the grasses were alwaysmoving--not running about, of course, but standing in the same place andbending to and fro, to and fro. Some of them would move, so her fatherhad once told her, as much as four miles in a single day, just as far asit was from Marian's house to the top of Fairbarrow Down.

  But here in the valley they weren't moving at all. They weren't evenwhispering. They were holding their breath; and if they were listeningto anything, it was to something that a little girl couldn't hear. Shestared into the sky, but it was so blue that it made her eyes achetrying to see how blue it was; and when she closed them, to give them arest, she could see little patterns on her eyelids. Then she opened themagain, and the green of the grass, as she looked between the grassblades, was cool like an ointment.

  "And nobody in the world," she thought, "knows where I am."

  She felt a sort of tickle in the middle of her stomach.

  "How do you do?" said a voice.

  Marian gave a jump. She saw a little man looking up at her. He was noteven as tall as an afternoon tea-table.

  "What's your name?" he asked. He was very polite. He held his hat in hisright hand. Marian told him her name. She wasn't a bit frightened.

  "What's yours?" she asked.

  "I'm Mr Jugg," he said.

  "And who are you, Mr Jugg?" she inquired.

  "I'm the King of the Bumpies," he replied.

  When Marian was puzzled there came a little straight line, exactly inthe middle, between her two eyebrows.

  "What are bumpies?" she said.

  "My hat!" he gasped. "Haven't you ever heard of bumpies?"

  Marian shook her head.

  "Oh dear, oh dear!" he sighed. "Have you ever heard of angels?"

  "Well, of course," said Marian. "Everybody's heard of angels."

  "Well then, bumpies," said Mr Jugg, "are baby angels. They're calledbumpies till they've learned to fly."

  "I see," said Marian, "but why are they called bumpies?"

  "Because they bump," said Mr Jugg, "not knowing how."

  Marian laughed.

  "Where do you live?" she asked.

  "If you'd care to come with me," he said, "I could show you."

  "Oh, I should love to!" said Marian. "May I?"

  He put on his hat and gave her his hand, and helped her
to stand up withher bunch of daisies.

  "Come along," he said, and he took her across the field, and through ahole in the hedge into the next one. This was a smaller field with somecows in it, and the grass in it was quite short. He led her across it,and helped her over a gate into the field beyond, where the grass wasshorter still.

  "How old are you?" he asked.

  "I'm seven," said Marian.

  "That's very young," he replied. "I'm seven million."

  "Good gracious!" said Marian. "And how old is Mrs Jugg?"

  "She's as old as I am," he said, "but she looks younger."

  When they came to the middle of this field he stood still and stampedwith his foot three and a half times--three big stamps and a littlestamp--and then the field suddenly opened. Marian saw a hole at her feetwith a lot of steps in it going down, down, down.

  "This is where I live," he said. "You needn't be frightened. It's quitesafe. I'll lead the way."

  He was still holding her hand, and he went down before her, a step at atime, very carefully.

  "Isn't it rather dark?" said Marian.

  "Wait till I've shut the door," he said, "and then you'll get asurprise."

  When both their heads were well below the ground, he tapped twice on thewall; and then the hole was shut so that they couldn't see the sky, anda most wonderful thing happened. They were at the beginning of a longpassage, almost a mile long, with a lovely slope in it; and on each sideof it there were hundreds of little lights, all of different colours.There were blue lights, and green lights, and yellow lights, and crimsonlights, and lights of all sorts of other colours that Marian had neverseen or even imagined. Both the walls and the floor of the passage werequite smooth, and just where they stood there was a little cupboard."This is where I keep my scooter," he said. "It saves time, and there'slots of room on it for two."

  He opened the cupboard door and took out a scooter.

  "Now put your hands," he said, "on my shoulders."

  "Oh, what fun!" said Marian, and she suddenly noticed that he seemed tohave grown taller.

  She climbed on to the scooter behind him. He gave it a little push andthey began to glide down the passage. At first they went quite slowly,because the slope was so gentle. But soon they were going faster andfaster; and presently they went so fast that all the coloured lightsbecame two streaks of light, one on each side of them. Marian couldhardly breathe.

  "What's going to happen at the end?" she thought. But about half-wayalong the passage began to go uphill again. The coloured streaks becameseparate lights. The scooter went slower and slower. At last it stoppedjust in front of a closed door, and there, in the wall, was anotherlittle cupboard.

  "Here we are," said Mr Jugg, putting the scooter away. "I expect they'reall having tea."

  Then he opened the door, and Marian almost lost her breath again, forwhat she saw was a great long room, with lots and lots of little tablesin it, and bumpies sitting on chairs round every table. Hanging from theceiling of this room were hundreds of coloured lights just like thelights that she had seen in the passage--blue lights, and green lights,and yellow lights, and crimson lights, and lights of all sorts of othercolours of which she didn't even know the name. And there was such aclamour of talking and laughing, and spoon-clinking and plate-clinking,and chair-creaking and table-creaking, that Marian could hardly hearwhat Mr Jugg was saying, although he was shouting in her ear.

  "That's my wife," he said. "That's Mrs Jugg, that lady over there, justcoming toward us."

  Marian looked where he was pointing, and saw a stout little lady with asmiling face.

  She was exactly as tall as Mr Jugg, but she weighed two and a halfpounds more. As for the bumpies, they were of all sorts of sizes, butthey all wore the same kind of clothes--little dark green jackets overlittle dark green vests, little dark green knickers, and little darkgreen socks. Fastened to each jacket were two little hooks, one behindeach shoulder--these were for their wings. But they only wore wings whenthey were having their flying lessons. Suddenly they all stopped talkingand stared at Marian. Some of them stood on their chairs in order to seeher better. She felt very shy, and began to blush.

  Mrs Jugg came and gave her a kiss.

  "This is Marian," said Mr Jugg. "Can you give her some tea?"

  "Why, of course I can," said Mrs Jugg, giving Marian two more kisses."Come with me, my dear. You shall have tea at my table."

  She introduced Marian to all the bumpies.

  They gave her three cheers, and then went on with their tea, and soonMarian was having tea herself--such a tea as she had never had before,not even at her Uncle Joe's. There was bread and butter with bumpy jamon it and bumpy Devonshire cream on the top of the jam, and there wasbumpy cake with bumpy cherries in it, and there were bumpy meringues,and there was bumpy honey.

  "Why, it's just like a birthday tea!" said Marian.

  "That's because it is one," said Mr Jugg. "Every tea's a birthday teadown here. There are so many bumpies, you see, that it's alwayssomebody's birthday."

  "Dear me!" said Marian; "but isn't that rather a bother--I mean for youand Mrs Jugg?"

  Mrs Jugg gave her another meringue.

  "There aren't any bothers," she said, "in Heaven."

  "But this isn't Heaven," said Marian, "is it?"

  "Well, of course it is," said Mrs Jugg--"part of it."

  "But it's under the ground," said Marian.

  "Well, never mind. Heaven's everywhere, only most people don't know it."

  Marian was surprised, but she felt all lovely and shivery. Fancy Heavenbeing so near home! What a thing to be able to tell Mummy! Mrs Jugg gaveher some more cake. Some of the bumpies had finished now, and weregetting impatient. Presently Mr Jugg clapped his hands. Then they allstood up, and Mrs Jugg said grace, and then they all rushed toward thedoor.

  This wasn't the door by which Marian had come in, but a door that openedinto another room--a great big room with even more lights in it, andhundreds of swings and all sorts of rocking-horses. In less than aminute there were bumpies upon every one of them, and two of the bumpiestook charge of Marian. She had a lovely swing and a ride on arocking-horse, and then they all began to play games. They playedring-a-ring o' roses, and bumpy in the corner, and bumpy hide-and-seek,and angel's buff; and then Mr Jugg took her into the flying school tosee some of the older bumpies fly.

  This was like a big gymnasium, with lots and lots of pegs in it, and apair of wings hanging from each peg; and on the floor there were greatsoft mattresses so that the bumpies shouldn't hurt themselves if theyfell down. But the bumpies that Marian saw had almost learned to fly.They would soon be proper angels and able to fly anywhere.

  "And then," said Mr Jugg, "they'll be going into the upper school tolearn history and geography and all about dreams and things."

  "Where's the upper school?" asked Marian.

  "Oh, it's all over the place," said Mr Jugg; "there are ever so manyclass-rooms, you see. And then they go to college."

  "And what happens then?" asked Marian.

  "Well, then they're able to begin to work. There's always heaps for themto do."

  "I see," said Marian; "and now I really think that I ought to be goinghome."

  "Perhaps you ought," said Mr Jugg. He led her back into the playroom,and then into the room where they had all had tea. The tables had beencleared now, but Mrs Jugg came toward them with a big box of bumpychocolates. Marian took one, and Mrs Jugg kissed her and told her thatshe must be sure to come again.

  "You haven't seen half the place," she said, "nor a quarter of it. Thereare miles and miles of it. Have another chocolate."

  Then Marian thanked her and gave her a kiss, and Mr Jugg opened the doorand they went into the passage. When they had come this part of thepassage had been uphill, but going back, of course, it was downhill. Heopened the cupboard and took out the scooter, and Marian stood behindhim with her hands on his shoulders. Just as before, they began to goquite slowly, but soon they were going as fast as ever. Just
as before,the coloured lights became two streaks of light, one on each side ofthem. But Marian knew now what was going to happen, and presently thescooter went slower and slower. At last it stopped just at the foot ofthe steps, and Mr Jugg put it away in the cupboard. He hit the walltwice, and there, at the top of the steps, Marian saw the hole open, andthe sky above it.

  "Goodness me!" she said. "How late it is!"

  The sky was quite dark, and the stars were shining.

  Mr Jugg blew his nose.

  "Poor Mummy!" she said; "she will be so frightened."

  "Where do you live?" asked Mr Jugg.

  Marian told him.

  "I'd better fly you there," he said. "Half a tick."

  He went down the steps again, and opened the little cupboard, and cameback with a pair of wings.

  "Now, if you can get on my back," he said, "we'll be home in half aminute."

  She climbed on to his shoulders, just as if she were going to ridepick-a-back, and then he gave a little jump and they were up in the air.They skimmed across the fields and down Peter Street just as fast as anexpress train. At Marian's door he put her down.

  "Which is your bedroom window?" he asked.

  She told him.

  "Now I must be saying good-night," he said. "No, I won't come in. It'sagainst the rules for the King of the Bumpies." So he took off his hatand made her a little bow, and before she could wink almost, he hadgone. Then she knocked at the door, and next moment Mummy was huggingher as tight as tight. Then Daddy came and hugged her too, and Cuthbert,who had gone to bed, looked over the landing banisters.