Edith Nesbit

“ Each moved forward under the glowing, glorious arch of the perfect Amulet.
Then Rekh-marā quavered and shook, and as steel is drawn to a magnet he was drawn, under the arch of magic, nearer and nearer to the learned gentleman. And, as one drop of water mingles with another, when the window-glass is rain-wrinkled, as one quick-silver bead is drawn to another quick-silver bead, Rekh-marā, Divine Father of the Temple of Amen-Rā, was drawn into, slipped into, disappeared into, and was one with Jimmy, the good, the beloved, the learned gentleman. ”

“ And as no one else could think of anything better the whole party walked back to Fitzroy Street as fast as it could, the little girl holding tight to Anthea's hand and now not crying any more, only sniffing gently.
The learned gentleman looked up from his writing with the smile that had grown much easier to him than it used to be. They were quite at home in his room now; it really seemed to welcome them. Even the mummy-case appeared to smile as if in its distant superior ancient Egyptian way it were rather pleased to see them than not. ”

“ Our merchants are princes,' scowled the skipper.
'Oh, don't be cross, we do so like hearing about things. We want to know all about the dyeing,' said Anthea cordially.
'Oh, you do, do you?' growled the man. 'So that's what you're here for? Well, you won't get the secrets of the dye trade out of me.'
He went away, and everyone felt snubbed and uncomfortable. And all the time the long, narrow eyes of the Egyptian were watching, watching. They felt as though he was watching them through the darkness, when they lay down to sleep on a pile of cloaks. ”

“ All sorts of people were passing up the steps to seek audience of the Queen. Ladies in richly-embroidered dresses with fringy flounces, poor folks in plain and simple clothes, dandies with beards oiled and curled.
And Cyril, Robert, Anthea and Jane, went with the crowd.
At the gate of the palace the Psammead put one eye cautiously out of the basket and whispered—
'I can't be bothered with queens. I'll go home with this lady. I'm sure she'll get me some sand if you ask her to.'
'Oh! don't leave us,' said Jane. ”

“ The gentleman took off his spectacles and laughed. His laugh sounded rusty, Cyril thought, as though it wasn't often used.
'Of course!' he said. 'I'm sure I beg your pardon. I think I must have been in a dream. You are the children who live downstairs, are you not? Yes. I have seen you as I have passed in and out. And you have found something that you think to be an antiquity, and you've brought it to show me? That was very kind. I should like to inspect it."
'I'm afraid we didn't think about your liking to inspect it,' said the truthful Anthea. ”

“ They crowded round the children, touching their clothes, their shoes, the buttons on the boys' jackets, and the coral of the girls' necklaces.
'Do say something,' whispered Anthea.
'We come,' said Cyril, with some dim remembrance of a dreadful day when he had had to wait in an outer office while his father interviewed a solicitor, and there had been nothing to read but the Daily Telegraph—'we come from the world where the sun never sets. And peace with honour is what we want. We are the great Anglo-Saxon or conquering race. ”

“ It's Tyre that rules the waves." I steer her straight for the Dragon rocks, and we go down for our city, as brave men should. The creeping cowards who follow shall go down as slaves—and slaves they shall be to us—when we live again. Tyre, Tyre for ever!'
A great shout went up, and the slaves below joined in it.
'Quick, the Amulet,' cried Anthea, and held it up. Rekh-marā held up the one he had snatched from Pheles. The word was spoken, and the two great arches grew on the plunging ship in the shrieking wind under the dark sky. ”

“ She took the sovereign and ran down to the others.
And now from the window of a four-wheeled cab the Queen of Babylon beheld the wonders of London. Buckingham Palace she thought uninteresting; Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament little better. But she liked the Tower, and the River, and the ships filled her with wonder and delight.
'But how badly you keep your slaves. How wretched and poor and neglected they seem,' she said, as the cab rattled along the Mile End Road.
'They aren't slaves; they're working-people,' said Jane. ”

“ So when the girl said, 'Who are you?' everyone understood at once, and Anthea replied—
'We are children—just like you. Don't be frightened. Won't you show us where you live?'
Jane put her face right into the Psammead's basket, and burrowed her mouth into its fur to whisper—
'Is it safe? Won't they eat us? Are they cannibals?'
The Psammead shrugged its fur.
'Don't make your voice buzz like that, it tickles my ears,' it said rather crossly. 'You can always get back to Regent's Park in time if you keep fast hold of the charm,' it said. ”

“ The members of the Stock Exchange had edged carefully away from the gleaming blades, the mailed figures, the hard, cruel Eastern faces.
But Throgmorton Street is narrow, and the crowd was too thick for them to get away as quickly as they wished.
'Kill them,' cried the Queen. 'Kill the dogs!'
The guards obeyed.
'It is all a dream,' cried Mr Levinstein, cowering in a doorway behind his clerk.
'It isn't,' said the clerk. 'It isn't. Oh, my good gracious! those foreign brutes are killing everybody. ”

“ SHE CRIED.
'They're poor people, that's all,' said Robert.
'But it's not all! They're ill, they're unhappy, they're wicked! Oh, do stop it, there's dear children. It's very, very clever. Some sort of magic-lantern trick, I suppose, like I've read of. But do stop it. Oh! their poor, tired, miserable, wicked faces!'
The tears were in her eyes. Anthea signed to Jane. ”

“ The wall was enormously high—more than half the height of St Paul's—and in the wall were set enormous gates that shone like gold as the rising sun beat on them. Each gate had a solid square tower on each side of it that stood out from the wall and rose above it. Beyond the wall were more towers and houses, gleaming with gold and bright colours. Away to the left ran the steel-blue swirl of a great river. And the children could see, through a gap in the trees, that the river flowed out from the town under a great arch in the wall. ”

“ Now, once for all, I am not going to be bothered to tell you how it was that the girl could understand Anthea and Anthea could understand the girl. You, at any rate, would not understand me, if I tried to explain it, any more than you can understand about time and space being only forms of thought. You may think what you like. Perhaps the children had found out the universal language which everyone can understand, and which wise men so far have not found. You will have noticed long ago that they were singularly lucky children, and they may have had this piece of luck as well as others. ”

“ Do go straight home, dear Cæsar, and let poor little Britain alone.'
'But this other girl-child says——' said Cæsar.
'All Jane's been telling you is what it's going to be,' Anthea interrupted, 'hundreds and hundreds of years from now.'
'The little one is a prophetess, eh?' said Cæsar, with a whimsical look. 'Rather young for the business, isn't she?'
'You can call her a prophetess if you like,' said Cyril, 'but what Anthea says is true.'
'Anthea?' said Cæsar. 'That's a Greek name.'
'Very likely,' said Cyril, worriedly. 'I say, I do wish you'd give up this idea of conquering Britain. ”

“ There would be a fight. People get killed in fights, and the idea of taking part in a fight was one that did not appeal to the children.
The man who had brought the news of the enemy still lay panting on the sand. His tongue was hanging out, long and red, like a dog's. The people of the village were hurriedly filling the gaps in the fence with thorn-bushes from the heap that seemed to have been piled there ready for just such a need. They lifted the cluster-thorns with long poles—much as men at home, nowadays, lift hay with a fork.
Jane bit her lip and tried to decide not to cry. ”

“ I wish I could dream you oftener. Now you're grown up you're not like you used to be.'
'Grown up?' said Anthea.
The learned gentleman pointed to a frame with four photographs in it.
'There you are,' he said.
The children saw four grown-up people's portraits—two ladies, two gentlemen—and looked on them with loathing.
'Shall we grow up like that?' whispered Jane. 'How perfectly horrid!'
'If we're ever like that, we sha'n't know it's horrid, I expect,' Anthea with some insight whispered back. 'You see, you get used to yourself while you're changing. ”

“ Jane with trembling hands held up the charm towards the East, and Cyril spoke the word of power. The Amulet grew to a great arch. Out beyond it was the glaring Egyptian sky, the broken wall, the cruel, dark, big-nosed face with the red, wet knife in its gleaming teeth. Within the arch was the dull, faint, greeny-brown of London grass and trees.
OUT BEYOND IT WAS THE GLARING EGYPTIAN SKY, THE BROKEN WALL, THE CRUEL, DARK, BIG-NOSED FACE
'Hold tight, Jane!' Cyril cried, and he dashed through the arch, dragging Anthea and the Psammead after him. ”

“ Father and Mother and The Lamb are coming home today.'
'But what about me?' said Rekh-marā.
'What is your heart's desire?' Anthea asked.
'Great and deep learning,' said the Priest, without a moment's hesitation. 'A learning greater and deeper than that of any man of my land and my time. But learning too great is useless. If I go back to my own land and my own age, who will believe my tales of what I have seen in the future? ”

“ But the eyes of Rekh-marā and the learned gentleman met, and were kind to each other, and promised each other many things, secret and sacred and very beautiful.
Anthea saw the look.
'Oh, but,' she said, without at all meaning to say it, 'dear Jimmy's soul isn't at all like Rekh-marā's. I'm certain it isn't. I don't want to be rude, but it isn't, you know. Dear Jimmy's soul is as good as gold, and——'
'Nothing that is not good can pass beneath the double arch of my perfect Amulet,' said the voice. ”

“ A crowd was on the road and pavement.
In the middle of the crowd, plainly to be seen from the top of the steps, were the beautiful face and bright veil of the Babylonian Queen.
'Jimminy!' cried Robert, and ran down the steps, 'here she is!'
'Here!' he cried, 'look out—let the lady pass. She's a friend of ours—coming to see us.'
'Nice friend for a respectable house,' snorted a fat woman with marrows on a handcart.
All the same the crowd made way a little. The Queen met Robert on the pavement, and Cyril joined them, the Psammead bag still on his arm. ”

“ He started.
'That didn't feel like a dream,' he said, and his voice trembled.
'It isn't exactly a dream,' said Anthea softly, 'it's all part of the Amulet—it's a sort of extra special, real dream, dear Jimmy.'
'Ah,' said he, 'when you call me that, I know I'm dreaming. My little sister—I dream of her sometimes. But it's not real like this. Do you remember the day I dreamed you brought me the Babylonish ring?'
'We remember it all,' said Robert. 'Did you leave Fitzroy Street because you were too rich for it?'
'Oh, no!' he said reproachfully. ”

“ So they were quiet.
'It's me, Rekh-marā, the Priest of Amen,' said the whisperer. 'The man who brought us has gone to sea again, and he has taken my Amulet from me by force, and I know no magic to get it back. Is there magic for that in the Amulet you bear?'
Everyone was instantly awake by now.
'We can go after him,' said Cyril, leaping up; 'but he might take ours as well; or he might be angry with us for following him.'
'I'll see to that,' said the Egyptian in the dark. ”

“ Is there no wise man in your Babylon who can pronounce the names of the Great Ones?'
'There's a poor learned gentleman upstairs,' said Anthea, 'we might try him. He has a lot of stone images in his room, and iron-looking ones too—we peeped in once when he was out. Old Nurse says he doesn't eat enough to keep a canary alive. He spends it all on stones and things.'
'Try him,' said the Psammead, 'only be careful. If he knows a greater name than this and uses it against you, your charm will be of no use. ”

“ Shall I put the door-key down your back?'
'That's for noses,' said Anthea, 'and I'm not a kid any more than you are,' but she laughed a little, and her mouth began to get back into its proper shape. You know what an odd shape your mouth gets into when you cry in earnest.
'Look here,' said Cyril, working the soap round and round between his hands in a thick slime of grey soapsuds. 'I've been thinking. We've only just played with the Amulet so far. We've got to work it now—work it for all it's worth. And it isn't only Mother either. There's Father out there all among the fighting. ”

“ Of course it might be another hippopotamus, or a crocodile, or a lion—or, in fact, almost anything.
'Keep your hand on the charm, Jane,' said Robert hastily. 'We ought to have a means of escape handy. I'm dead certain this is the sort of place where simply anything might happen to us.'
'I believe a hippopotamus is going to happen to us,' said Jane—'a very, very big one.'
They had all turned to face the danger.
'Don't be silly little duffers,' said the Psammead in its friendly, informal way; 'it's not a river-horse. It's a human.'
It was. It was a girl—of about Anthea's age. ”

“ So Cyril, without more ado, did it.
'Do more magic,' said the King, with simple appreciation.
'He cannot do any more magic,' said Anthea suddenly, and all eyes were turned on her, 'because of the voice of the free people who are shouting for bread and onions and beer and a long mid-day rest. If the people had what they wanted, he could do more.'
'A rude-spoken girl,' said Pharaoh. 'But give the dogs what they want,' he said, without turning his head. 'Let them have their rest and their extra rations. There are plenty of slaves to work.'
A richly-dressed official hurried out. ”

“ But I see you haven't done your Duties of Citizenship Course yet.'
'But beggars, and people like that?' persisted Anthea 'and tramps and people who haven't any homes?'
'People who haven't any homes?' repeated the lady. 'I really don't understand what you're talking about.'
'It's all different in our country,' said Cyril carefully; and I have read it used to be different in London. Usedn't people to have no homes and beg because they were hungry? And wasn't London very black and dirty once upon a time? And the Thames all muddy and filthy? ”