Hugh Walpole

“ There was a field on their right, with a break in the hedge; through the break she saw buttercups, thousands of them, and loosestrife and snapdragons. She climbed the gate and vanished into the field. Jeremy walked on, scarcely realizing her absence. Suddenly he heard a scream; he stopped, and Hamlet stopped, pricking up his ears. Another scream, then a succession, piercing and terrible; then over the field-gate Mary appeared, tumbling over regardless of all beholders and proprieties, then running, crying, "Jeremy! Jeremy! Jeremy!" buttercups scattering from her hand as she ran. ”

“ No Tim with the red face and the strong legs, Tim perhaps the best friend he had in the world, after, of course, Riley and Hamlet. He had felt it bitterly, and during that journey from Polchester to the sea, hitherto always so wonderful a journey, he had sulked and sulked, refusing to notice any of the new scenery, the novel excitements and fresh incidents (like the driving all the way, for instance, from St. Mary Moer in a big wagonette with farmers and their wives) , lest he should be betrayed into any sort of disloyalty to his old friends. ”

“ They caught all the colors of the floating sky in their laps, and the shadows flew like birds from shoulder to shoulder, and then suddenly the hills would shake their sides, and all those shadows would slide down to the yellow beach and lie there like purple carpets. You could race and race and never grow tired, he on your back and stare into the fathomless sky, roll over forever and come to no harm, wander and never be lost. The first gate of the kingdom and the last—the little golden square underneath the tower where the green witch has her stall of treasures that she never sells. ”

“ Jeremy had arrived with his family at Caerlyon Rectory the night before in a state of rebellious discontent. He had been disgusted when he heard that this summer they were to break the habit of years and to abandon his beloved Cow Farm in favor of a new camping-ground. And a rectory, too, when they always lived so close to churches and had so eternally to do with them! No farm any more! No Mrs. Monk, Mr. Monk, and the little Monks; no cows and pigs, no sheep and horses; above all, no Tim. ”

“ The boy smiled. "You 're right; they 're brought in the night by a postman." He chuckled. "I say, you are a kid!"
"No, but what—" Jeremy paused, puzzled.
"Don't you worry," said the boy. "I was only ragging. There 's nothing funny about babies. You 're quite right; it 's strange any one writes for them. You 'd think they 'd be more sensible." He suddenly went on in another tone, "You know every one hates us, don't you?"
"Yes," said Jeremy. "Why is it?"
"Because we 're bad," Humphrey said solemnly. "Our hand is against every one, and every one's hand is against us." ”

“ When he was up and about again, he went to the farm and looked through the gate. Within there was absolute stillness. A pig was snuffling among the manure.
He went out to the moor. It was a perfect afternoon, only a little breeze blowing. The pools, slightly ruffled, were like blue lace. A rabbit, sitting in front of his hole, did not move. He threw himself face downward on the ground, and cried as though his heart would break ”

“ Behind the church stretched a lovely champaign of the gentlest, most English country-side: hills as green as brightly colored glass rising smoothly into the blue, little valleys thickly patched with trees; cottages from whose stumpy chimneys smoke was already arising; cows and sheep; and in the distance the joyful barking of a dog, the only sound in all that early scene save the curdling whisper of the tide. ”

“ He told Jeremy the most marvelous stories, and Jeremy believed every word of them. They sat on a little hummock, with a dark wood behind them, and watched the moon rise.
"You 're a decent kid," said Humphrey. "I like you better than my brothers. I suppose you 'll forget me as soon as I 'm gone."
"I 'll never forget you," said Jeremy. "Can't you leave your family and be somebody else? Then you can come and stay with us." ”

“ That 's why we came down to this rotten dull hole—because we had n't been down here before. And another reason they don't like us is because that woman who lives with us is n't father's wife, and she is n't our mother either. I should rather think not! She 's a beast. I hate her," he added reflectively.
There was a great deal of all this that Jeremy did n't understand, but he got from it an immense impression of romance and adventure. And then, as he looked across at the boy opposite to him, a new feeling came to him—a feeling that he had never known before. ”

“ Humphrey was immensely gratified. He bent down and picked up a pebble, then, straining backward ever so slightly, flung it. It vanished into the blue sea. Jeremy sighed with admiration.
"You can throw!" he said. "Would you mind if I felt the muscle on your arm?" He felt it. He had never imagined such a muscle. "Do you think I could have more if I worked at it?" he asked, stretching out his own arm.
Humphrey graciously felt it.
"That's not bad for a kid your size," he said. "You ought to lift weights in the morning. That's the way to bring it up." Then he added: "You 're a sporting kid. ”

“ When at last he got to the gate and looked through, he beheld an extraordinary scene. Among the cobbles and the manure-heaps and the filth many things were scattered: articles of clothing, some chairs, and a table, some pictures, many torn papers. The yard was almost filled with men and women, all of them apparently shouting and screaming together. A big red-faced man next to Jeremy was crying over and over again: "That 'll teach him to meddle with our women." "That 'll teach him to meddle with our women." ”

“ Lots of people do."
The sudden sense that other folk in the world also thought the quartet outlaws was new to Jeremy. He had envisaged the affair as a struggle in which the Cole family only were engaged.
"Eat babies!" Jeremy cried. "No; do you?"
"Of course not," said the boy. "That's the sort of damned rot people talk. They think we 'd do anything."
He suddenly sat down on the turf, and Jeremy sat down, too, dramatically picturing to himself the kind of thing that would happen did his father turn the corner and find him there amicably in league with his enemy. ”

“ He 's broken three chairs in the farm already! I don't suppose we shall be here very long. We 're always moving about. Then another reason is that we never have any money. Father makes a bit racing sometimes, and then we 're flush for a week or two ”