Edith Nesbit

“ Well, just inside there—'
'If you don't stop going on like that,' said Jane, firmly, 'I shall scream, and then I'll faint—so now then!'
'And I will, too,' said Anthea.
Robert was not pleased at being checked in his flight of fancy.
'You girls will never be great writers,' he said bitterly. 'They just love to think of things in dungeons, and chains, and knobbly bare human bones, and—'
Jane had opened her mouth to scream, but before she could decide how you began when you wanted to faint, the golden voice of the Phoenix spoke through the gloom. ”

“ His father, my brother—Mr the Marquis—has spent much of money, and it the must, despite the sentiments of familial respect, that I admit that my sainted father he also—'
'How would you feel if you found a lot of money—hundreds and thousands of gold pieces?' asked Cyril.
The lady smiled sadly.
'Ah! one has already recounted to you the legend?' she said. 'It is true that one says that it is long time; oh! but long time, one of our ancestors has hid a treasure—of gold, and of gold, and of gold—enough to enrich my little Henri for the life. ”

“ Let's get on the carpet and have a jolly good wish. You'll have time enough to repent of things all next week.'
'Yes,' said Cyril, 'let's. It's not really wrong.'
'Well, look here,' said Anthea. 'You know there's something about Christmas that makes you want to be good—however little you wish it at other times. Couldn't we wish the carpet to take us somewhere where we should have the chance to do some good and kind action? ”

“ The 'garden angels' ran down the hill to the lady's little house, where they had left the carpet on the veranda, and they spread it out and said 'Home,' and no one saw them disappear, except little Henri, who had flattened his nose into a white button against the window-glass, and when he tried to tell his aunt she thought he had been dreaming. So that was all right.
'It is much the best thing we've done,' said Anthea, when they talked it over at tea-time. 'In the future we'll only do kind actions with the carpet.'
'Ahem!' said the Phoenix. ”

“ I like it. The stairs just go right slap into the ceiling, and it's a stone ceiling. You can't do good and kind actions underneath a paving-stone.'
'Stairs aren't made to lead just to paving-stones as a general rule,' said the Phoenix. 'Put your shoulder to the wheel.'
'There isn't any wheel,' said the injured Robert, still rubbing his head.
But Cyril had pushed past him to the top stair, and was already shoving his hardest against the stone above. ”

“ Below them were fields and orchards, all bare boughs and brown furrows, and little houses and gardens. The shrine was a kind of tiny chapel with no front wall—just a place for people to stop and rest in and wish to be good. ”

“ So they turned round and went back, and Robert was made to go first with one of the candles, because he was the one who had begun to talk about bones. And Cyril carried the carpet.
'I wish you hadn't put bones into our heads,' said Jane, as they went along.
'I didn't; you always had them. More bones than brains,' said Robert. ”

“ It was Cyril who suggested that perhaps they had better take the money and go.
'That wouldn't be a kind act, except to ourselves; and it wouldn't be good, whatever way you look at it,' said Anthea, 'to take money that's not ours.'
'We might take it and spend it all on benefits to the poor and aged,' said Cyril.
'That wouldn't make it right to steal,' said Anthea, stoutly.
'I don't know,' said Cyril. They were all standing up now. 'Stealing is taking things that belong to some one else, and there's no one else.'
'It can't be stealing if—'
'That's right,' said Robert, with ironical approval ”

“ 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. ”