The Story Of The Treasure Seekers Chapter 11: Bedtime Story

Hello, beloveds.

Welcome to today's reading, The Story Of The Treasure Seekers by Edith Nesbit.

This is a story about a delightful family living in London who fall upon hard times after their Mother's death. The children come up with lots of ideas to restore the family fortunes to their household and, naturally, get into lots of mishaps along the way.

You can find all the chapters on my profile page under 'playlists'.

Transcript

Hello,

Dear ones,

And welcome to today's reading.

The Story of the Treasure Seekers by Edith Nesbitt Chapter 11 Castilian Amoroso One day,

When we suddenly found that we had half a crown,

We decided that we really ought to try Dickie's way of restoring our fallen fortunes,

While yet the deed was in our power.

Because it might easily have happened to us never to have half a crown again.

So we decided to dally no longer with being journalists and bandits and things like that,

But to send for sample and instructions how to earn two pounds a week,

Each in our spare time.

We had seen the advertisement in the paper,

And we had always wanted to do it,

But we had never had the money to spare before,

Somehow.

The advertisement says any lady or gentleman can easily earn two pounds a week in their spare time.

Sample and instructions,

Two shillings,

Packed free from observation.

A good deal of the half crown was Dora's.

It came from her godmother,

But she said she would not mind letting Dickie have it if he would pay her back before Christmas,

And if we were sure it was right to try to make our fortune this way.

Of course,

That was quite easy,

Because out of two pounds a week in your spare time,

You can easily pay all of your debts and have almost as much left as you began with,

And,

As to the right we told her,

To dry up.

Dickie had always thought that this was really the best way to restore our fallen fortunes,

And we were glad that now he had a chance of trying,

Because of course we wanted two pounds a week,

And besides,

We were rather tired of Dickie's always saying when our turns didn't work out very well,

Why don't you try the sample and instructions about our spare time?

When we found out about our half crown,

We got the paper.

Noel was playing admirals in it,

But he had made the cocked hat without tearing the paper,

And we found the advertisement,

And it said just the same as ever.

So we got a two shilling postal order and a stamp,

And what was left of the money,

It was agreed we would spend in ginger beer,

To drink success to trade.

We got some nice paper out of father's study,

And Dickie wrote the letter,

And we put in the money,

And put on the stamp,

And made H.

O.

Post it.

Then we drank the ginger beer,

And we waited for the sample and the instructions.

It seemed a long time coming,

And the postman got quite tired of us running out and stopping him in the street to ask if it had come.

On the third morning it came,

It was quite a large parcel,

And it was packed,

As the advertisement said it would be,

Free from observation.

That just means it was in a box,

And inside the box was some stiff brownie cardboard,

Crinkled like the galvanized iron on the tops of chicken houses,

And inside that there was a lot of paper,

Some of it printed,

And some scrappy,

And in the very middle of it all,

A bottle,

Not very large,

And black,

And sealed on the top of the cork with yellow sealing wax.

We looked at it as it lay on the nursery table,

And while all the others grabbed at the papers to see what the printing was,

Oswald went to look for the corkscrew,

So as to see what was inside the bottle.

He found the corkscrew in the dresser drawer,

It always gets there,

Though it is supposed to be in the sideboard drawer,

In the dining room,

And when he got back the others had read most of the printed papers.

I don't think it's much good,

And I don't think it's quite nice to sell wine,

Dora said,

And besides,

It's not easy to suddenly begin to sell things when you aren't used to selling things.

I don't know,

Said Alice,

I believe I could.

They all looked rather down in the mouth,

And Oswald asked how you were to make your £2 a week.

Why,

You've got to get people to taste that stuff in the bottle,

It's sherry,

And then you've got to get them to buy it,

And then you write to the people and tell them the other people want the wine,

And then for every dozen you sell,

You get two shillings from the wine people,

So if you sell twenty dozen a week,

You get your £2.

I don't think we shall sell as much as that,

Said Dickie.

We might not the first week,

Alice said,

But when people find out how nice it is,

They will want to buy more and more,

And if we only get ten shillings a week,

It would be something to begin with,

Wouldn't it?

Oswald said he should jolly well think it would,

And then Dickie took the cork out with the corkscrew.

The cork broke a good deal,

And some of the bits went into the bottle.

Dora got the medicine glass that has the teaspoons and tablespoons marked on it,

And we agreed to have a teaspoon each,

To see what it was like.

No one must have more than that,

Dora said,

However nice it is.

Dora behaved rather as if it was her bottle.

I suppose it was,

Because she had lent the money for it.

Then she measured out the teaspoonful,

And she had first go,

Because of being the eldest.

We asked at once what it was like,

But Dora could not speak just then.

Then she said,

It's like the tonic Noel had in the spring,

But perhaps sherry ought to be like that.

Then it was Oswald's turn.

He thought it was Berry Bernie,

But he said nothing.

He wanted to see first what the others would say.

Dickie said it was simply beastly,

And Alice said Noel could taste it too if he liked.

Noel said it was the golden wine of the gods,

But he had to put his handkerchief up to his mouth all the same,

And I saw the face he made.

Then H.

O.

Had his,

And he smiled,

And he spat it out into the fire,

Which was very rude and nasty,

And we told him so.

Then it was Alice's turn.

She said,

Only half a teaspoonful for me,

Dora,

We mustn't use it all up,

And she tasted it and said nothing.

Then Dickie said,

Look here,

I chucked this.

I'm not going to hawk around such beastly stuff.

Anyone who likes can have the bottle.

And Alice got out ego before the rest of us.

Then she said,

I know what the matter with it is,

It wants sugar,

And at once we all saw that there was the matter with the stuff.

So we got two lumps of sugar and crushed it on the floor with one of the big wooden bricks till it was all powdery,

And we mixed it up with some of the wine,

And it was quite different and not nearly so nasty.

You see,

It's all right when you get used to it,

Dickie said.

Of course,

Alice said,

It's rather dusty though.

We must crush the sugar carefully in clean paper before we put it in the bottle.

Dora said she was afraid it would be cheating to make one bottle nicer than what the people would get if they ordered a dozen bottles.

But Alice said Dora always made a fuss about everything,

And really it would be quite honest.

You see,

Alice said,

I shall just tell them,

Quite truthfully,

What we have done to it,

And so then when their dozens come,

They can do it for themselves.

So then we crushed eight more lumps very cleanly and carefully between newspapers,

And shook it up well in the bottle,

And caulked it up with a screw of paper,

Brown and not the news,

For fear of poisoning ink getting wet and dripping down into the wine and killing people.

We made Pincher have a taste,

And he sneezed for ever so long,

And after that he went under the sofa whenever we showed him the bottle again.

Then we asked Alice who she would try and sell it to,

And she said,

I shall ask everybody who comes to the house,

And while we are doing that,

We can be thinking of outside people to take it to.

We must be careful,

There's not more than half of it left,

Even counting the sugar.

We did not wish to tell Eliza,

I don't know why,

And she opened the door very quickly that day,

So that the taxis,

And a man who came to our house by mistake for next door,

Got away before Alice had a chance to try them with the Castilian Amoroso.

But at about five,

Eliza slicked out for half an hour to see a friend who was making her a hat for Sunday,

And while she was gone,

There was a knock.

Alice went,

And we looked over the banisters.

When she opened the door,

She said at once,

Will you walk in,

Please?

The person at the door said,

I called to see your parmis,

Is he at home?

Alice once again said,

Will you walk in,

Please?

Then the person,

It sounded like a man,

Said,

He is in then.

But Alice only kept on saying,

Will you walk in,

Please?

So at last the man did,

Rubbing his boots very loudly on the mat.

Then Alice shut the front door,

And we saw that it was the butcher,

With an envelope in his hand.

He was not dressed in blue,

Like when he is cutting up the sheep and things in the shop,

And he wore knickerbockers.

Alice says he came on a bicycle.

She led the way into the dining room,

Where the Castilian Amoroso bottle and the medicine glass were standing on the table,

All ready.

The others stayed on the stairs,

But Oswald crept down and looked through the door crack.

Please sit down,

Said Alice,

Quite calmly,

Though she told me afterwards I had no idea how silly she actually felt.

And the butcher sat down.

Then Alice stood quite still and said nothing,

But she fiddled with the medicine glass and put the screw of brown paper straight in the Castilian bottle.

Will you tell your par I'd like a word with him,

The butcher said,

When he got tired of saying nothing.

He'll be in very soon,

I think,

Alice said.

And then she stood still again and said nothing.

It was beginning to look very idiotic of her,

And H.

O.

Laughed.

I went back and cuffed him for it quietly,

And I don't think the butcher heard.

But Alice did,

And it roused her from her stupor.

She spoke suddenly,

Very fast indeed.

So fast that I knew she had made up what she was going to say before.

She had got most of it out of the circular.

She said,

I want to call your attention to a sample of sherry wine I have here.

It's called Castilian something or other,

And at the price it's unequalled for flavour and boutique.

Well,

I never,

Said the butcher.

And Alice went on.

Would you like to taste it?

Thank you very much,

I'm sure,

Miss,

Said the butcher.

Alice poured some out.

The butcher tasted a very little.

He licked his lips,

And we thought he was going to say how good it was,

But he did not.

He put down the medicine glass with nearly all the stuff left in it,

And said,

Excuse me,

Miss,

But isn't it a little sweet?

For sherry,

I mean.

The real one isn't,

Said Alice.

If you order a dozen,

It will come quite different to that,

But we like it best with sugar.

I wish you would order some.

And the butcher asked why.

Alice did not speak for a minute,

And then she said,

I don't mind telling you,

Because you are in business yourself,

Aren't you?

We are trying to get people to buy it,

Because we shall have two shillings for every dozen that we can sell.

It's called a purse something.

A percentage,

Yes,

I see,

Said the butcher,

Looking at the hole in the carpet.

You see,

There are reasons,

Alice went on,

Why we want to make our fortunes as quickly as we can.

Quite so,

Said the butcher,

And he looked at the place where the paper is coming off the wall.

And this seems like a good way,

Alice went on.

We pay two shillings for the sample and instructions,

And it says you can make two pounds a week easily in your leisure time.

I sure hope you will,

Miss,

Said the butcher,

And Alice asked again if he would buy some.

Sherry is my favourite wine,

He said.

Alice asked him to have more to drink.

No,

Thank you,

Miss,

He said.

It's my favourite wine,

But it doesn't agree with me,

Not the least bit.

But I've an uncle who drinks it.

Suppose I ordered him half a dozen for a Christmas present.

Well,

Miss,

Here's the shilling commission anyway.

And he put out a handful of money and gave her the shilling.

But I thought the wine people paid that,

Alice said.

But the butcher said not on half a dozen they didn't.

Then he said he didn't think he'd wait any longer for father,

But would Alice ask father to write to him.

Then Alice offered him the sherry again,

But he said something like not for all the worlds.

And then she let him out and came back to us with the shilling and said,

How's that?

And we said A1.

And all the evening we talked about a fortune that we had begun to make.

Nobody came the next day,

But the day after a lady came to ask for money to build an orphanage for the children of dead sailors.

Alice asked her,

Would you like some wine?

And the lady said,

Thank you very much.

But she looked surprised.

She was not a young lady,

And she had a mantle with beads,

And the beads had come off in places,

Leaving a brownie braid showing.

And she had printed papers about the dead sailors in a seal-skin bag,

And the seal had come off in places,

Leaving the skin bare.

We gave her a tablespoon of the wine in a proper wine glass out of the sideboard,

Because she was a lady.

And when she had tasted it,

She got up in a very great hurry,

And shook out her dress,

Snapped her bag shut,

And said,

You naughty,

Wicked children.

What do you mean by playing a trick like this?

You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

I shall write to your mama about it,

You dreadful little girl.

You might have poisoned me.

Then Alice said,

I'm very sorry.

The butcher liked it,

Only he said it was very sweet.

And please don't write to mother.

It makes father very unhappy when letters come for her.

And Alice was very near crying.

What do you mean,

You silly child?

Said the lady,

Looking quite bright.

Why doesn't your father like your mother to have letters,

Eh?

And Alice said,

Oh,

You,

And began to cry,

And bolted out of the room.

Then I said,

Our mother is dead,

And will you please go away now?

The lady looked at me for a minute,

And then she looked quite different,

And she said,

I'm very sorry.

I didn't know.

Never mind about the wine.

I dare say your little sister meant it kindly.

And she looked around the room,

Just like the butcher had done.

Then she said again,

I didn't know.

I'm very sorry.

So I said,

Don't mention it,

And shook hands with her,

And let her out.

Of course,

We couldn't have asked her to buy the wine after what she'd said,

But I think she was not a bad sort of person.

I do like a person to say that they are sorry when they ought to be,

Especially a grown-up.

They do it so seldom.

I suppose that's why we think so much of it.

But Alice and I didn't feel jolly for ever so long afterwards.

And when I went back into the dining room,

I saw how different it was from when mother was here,

And we are different,

And father is different,

And nothing is like it was.

I am glad I am not made to think about it every day.

I went and found Alice,

And I told her what the lady had said,

And when she had finished crying,

We put away the bottle,

And we said we would not try to sell it to any more people.

And we did not tell the others.

We only said that the lady did not buy any.

And we went up on the heath,

And some soldiers went by,

And there was a Punch and Judy show,

And when we came back,

We felt better.

The bottle had got quite dusty where we had put it,

And perhaps the dust of ages would have laid thick and heavy on it.

Only a clergyman called when we were all out.

He was not our own clergyman.

Mr.

Bristow is our own clergyman,

And we all love him,

And we would not try to sell sherry to people we like,

And make two pounds a week out of them in our spare time.

It was another clergyman,

Just a stray one,

And he asked Eliza if the dear children would not like to come to his little Sunday school.

We always spend Sunday afternoons with father,

But he had left us the name of his vicarage with Eliza,

And asked her to tell us to come.

We thought we would go and call on him,

Just to explain about Sunday afternoons,

And we thought we might as well take the sherry with us.

I won't go unless you all go too,

Alice said,

And I won't do the talking.

Dora said she thought we had much better not go,

But we said rot,

And it ended in her coming with us,

And I'm glad she did.

Oswald said he would do the talking if the others liked,

And he learned what to say from the printed papers.

We went to the vicarage early on Saturday afternoon,

And we rang at the bell.

It is a new red house with no trees in the garden,

Just yellow mould and gravel.

It was all very neat and dry.

Just before we rang the bell,

We heard someone inside call,

Jane!

Jane!

And we thought we would not be Jane for anything.

It was the sound of the voice that called,

That made us sorry for her.

The door was opened by a very neat servant in black,

With a white apron.

We saw her tying the strings as she came along through the hall.

Her face was red,

And I think she was Jane.

We asked if we could see Mr Mallow.

The servant said that Mr Mallow was very busy with his sermon,

But she would see.

But Oswald said,

It's alright,

He asked us to come.

So she let us all in and shut the front door,

And showed us into a very tidy room with a bookcase full of a lot of books,

Covered in black cotton,

With white labels,

And some dull pictures.

And Mr Mallow was writing at his desk with drawers,

Copying something out of a book.

He was stout and short and wore spectacles.

He covered his writing up when we went in,

I don't know why,

And he looked rather cross.

And we heard Jane,

Or somebody,

Being scolded outside by the voice.

I hope it wasn't for letting us in.

Well,

Said the clergyman,

What is all this about?

You asked us to call,

Dora said,

About your little Sunday school.

We're the Bastables of Lewisham Row.

Ah,

Yes.

And shall I expect you all tomorrow?

He took up his pen and fiddled with it,

And did not ask us to sit down,

But some of us did.

We always spend afternoons on Sunday with father,

Said Dora,

But we wish to come and thank you for being so kind as to ask us.

And we wish to ask you something else,

Said Oswald,

And he made a sign to Alice to get the sherry ready in the glass,

And she did,

Behind Oswald's back,

Whilst he was speaking.

My time is limited,

Said Mr Mallow,

Looking at his watch.

But tell me,

Young man,

What is troubling you,

And I will try to give you any help in my power.

What is it that you want?

Then Oswald quickly took the glass from Alice,

And held it out to him,

And said,

I would like your opinion on that.

On that,

He said,

What is it?

What is it?

It's a shipment,

Oswald said,

But it's quite enough for you to taste.

Alice had filled the glass half full.

I suppose she was too excited to measure it properly.

A shipment,

Said the clergyman,

Taking the glass in his hand.

Yes,

Oswald went on,

An exceptional opportunity,

Full-bodied and nutty.

It really does taste rather like Brazil nut,

Alice said.

The vicar looked from Alice to Oswald and back again,

And Oswald went on,

With what he had learned from the printing.

It is of a quality never before offered at the price.

It's a true after-dinner wine,

Stimulating,

And yet.

.

.

Wine,

Said Mr Mallow,

Holding the glass further away from him.

Do you know,

He went on,

Making his voice very thick and strong,

I expect he does it like that in church.

Have you never been taught that it is the drinking of wine and spirits,

Yes,

And beer,

Which makes half the homes in England full of wretched little children and degraded,

Miserable parents?

Not if you put sugar in it,

Said Alice firmly.

Eight lumps,

And shake the bottle.

We have each had more than a teaspoonful of it,

We were not ill at all.

It was something else that upset H.

O.

Most likely all those acorns he got out of the park.

The clergyman seemed to be speechless,

With conflicting emotions,

And just then the door opened,

And a lady came in.

She had a white cap with lace and an ugly violet flower in it,

And she was tall and looked very strong,

Although thin,

And I do believe she had been listening at the door.

But why,

The vicar was saying,

Why did you bring this dreadful fluid,

This curse of our country,

To me to taste?

Well,

Because we thought you might buy some,

Said Dora,

Who never sees when a game is up.

In books the parson loves his old bottle of port,

And new sherry is just as good,

With sugar,

For people who like sherry,

And if you would order a dozen of the wine,

Then we should get two shillings.

The lady said,

Good gracious,

Nasty,

Sordid little things,

Haven't they anyone to teach them better?

And Dora got up and said,

No,

We are not those things you say,

And we are sorry we came here to be called names.

We want to make our fortune just as much as Mr.

Mallow does,

Only no one would listen to us if we preached,

So it's no good us writing out sermons like he does.

And I think that was very smart of Dora,

Even if it was rather rude.

And I said perhaps we'd better go,

And the lady said,

I should think so,

And when we were going to wrap up the bottle and the glass,

The clergyman said,

No,

You can leave that,

And we were so upset we did,

Though it wasn't his after all.

We walked home very fast and not saying much at all,

And the girls went up to their rooms.

When I went to tell them that tea was ready and there was a tea cake,

Dora was crying like anything,

And Alice was hugging her.

I am afraid there is a great deal of crying in this chapter,

But I can't help it,

Girls will cry sometimes,

I suppose it's in their nature,

And we ought to be sorry for their affliction.

It's no good,

Dora was saying,

You all hate me,

And you think I'm a prig and a busybody,

But I do try to do right,

Oh,

I do.

Oswald,

Go away,

Don't come in here trying to make fun of me.

So I said,

I'm not making fun,

Sissy,

Don't cry,

Old girl.

Mother taught me to call her sissy when we were very little and before the others came along,

But I don't often,

Somehow,

Now that we are old.

I patted her on the back and she put her head against my sleeve,

Holding on to Alice the whole time.

She was in that laughy,

Cryy state,

When people say things that they wouldn't normally say at other times.

Oh dear,

I do try,

I do,

And when Mother died,

She said,

Dora,

Take care of the others and teach them to be good and keep them out of trouble and try to make them happy.

She said,

Take care of them for me,

Dora,

Dear.

She said,

Take care of them for me,

Dora,

Dear,

And I have tried and all of you hate me for it and today I let you do this,

Though I knew all the time it was silly.

I hope you will not think that I was a muff,

But I kissed Dora for some time because girls like it and I will never again say that she comes the good sister too much and I have put all of this in,

Although I do hate telling about it,

Because I own that I have been very hard on Dora and I never again will be.

She is a good old sort.

Of course,

We never knew before about what Mother told her or we wouldn't have ragged her as much as we did.

We did not tell the little ones,

But I got Alice to speak to Dickie and we three can sit on the others,

If required.

This made us forget all about the sherry,

But about eight o'clock there was a knock and Eliza went and we saw it was poor Jane,

If her name was Jane,

From the vicarage.

She handed in a brown paper parcel and a letter and three minutes later Father called us into his study.

On the table was the brown paper parcel,

Open,

With our bottle and glass on it and Father had a letter in his hand.

He pointed to the bottle and sighed and said,

What have you been up to now?

The letter in his hand was covered with little black writing all over the four large pages.

So Dickie spoke up and he told Father the whole thing as far as he knew it,

For Alice and I had not told about the dead sailor's lady.

And when he had done,

Alice said,

Has Mr Mallow written to you to say that he will buy a dozen of the sherry after all?

It is really not half bad,

Father,

With sugar in it.

And Father said no,

He didn't think clergymen could afford such expensive wine and he said he would like to taste it.

So we gave him what there was left,

For we had decided coming home that we would give up trying for the two pounds a week in our spare time.

Father tasted it and then he acted just like H.

O.

Add and he spat it out,

But of course we did not say anything and then he laughed until I thought he would never stop.

I think it was the sherry,

Because I am sure I have read somewhere about wine that make of glad the heart of man.

He only had a very little,

Which shows that it really was a good after dinner wine,

Stimulating and yet,

Oh,

I forget the rest.

And when he had done laughing,

He said,

It's all right,

Kids,

Only don't do it again.

The wine trade is overcrowded and besides,

I thought you promised to consult me before going into business again.

Reviews

Poor kiddos… not always easy to be a treasure seeker… thank you!❤️🙏🏽