Dodie Smith - I Capture the Castle

"Killed first and drowned afterwards, and I daresay it was valuable."

"You go with your sister," Simon Cotton told me, and I was only too glad to. He handed the lantern to Stephen and stayed behind urging

the people back to the train.

"Well, it's a rum go," said the stationmaster.

It was certainly a rum go as far as I was concerned.

"What happened, Stephen?" I asked, under my breath.

Rose suddenly raised her head and whispered fiercely:

"Shut up. Get the trunks off the train." Then, as Neil was carrying her carefully down the little embankment, I heard her tell him they

could get out through the field at the back of the station.

He crossed the line with her and went straight into it--they never went back to the station at all. Stephen lit them with the lantern for a

minute or two, then joined me in the guard's van. Before I could get a word out, he said: "Please, please, don't ask me any questions yet, Miss Cassandra. I was throwing the beaver coat and the rug and the

jacket out on to the platform.

"Well, at least you can tell me where the bear coat is," I began, but just then the guard came back. Poor man, he couldn't make out how the bear had got out of the van. I told him Rose had been in there when

Neil Cotton slammed the doors and had opened the far-side doors when

she heard the bear growling.

"It was after her like a streak," I said.

That seemed to clear things up nicely.

The stationmaster helped us to get the trunks on to Mr. Stebbins's

cart. The Cottons" car was only a few yards away and there was Rose inside it, talking to Mrs. Cotton.

Simon Cotton came out of the station and said to me:

"We're driving your sister home- will you come, too ?"

But I said I would stay with Stephen; it was partly embarrassment and partly that I was afraid I should say the wrong thing, not having the faintest idea what had really happened.

And I couldn't get anything out of Stephen on the way home. All he

would say was:

"Oh, it was dreadful, dreadful. Miss Rose had better tell you

herself.

I'm saying nothing."

I had to wait until she and I were in bed last night for anything like the whole story--oh, she gave us all a brief outline as soon as she got home, but I guessed she was holding things back. All she told us then was that Neil Cotton came rushing at her with the pitchfork; she

screamed, and then suddenly he got the hang of things and told Simon

and Stephen to pretend there really had been a bear.

"Neil and Simon even pretended it to their Mother," she said.

"Oh, they were marvelous."

I never heard Father laugh so much- he said the story would be built up and embroidered on until Rose had been pursued by a herd of stampeding elephants. And he was greatly impressed by the Cottons'

quick-mindedness.

They hadn't come in--just left Rose in the courtyard.

"Neil said they'd leave me to tell my story in my own way," she said.

"And now I've told it. And you'll all have to pretend there was really a bear, for ever and ever."

She was ablaze with excitement, not in the least upset at having been so conspicuous. It was I who was upset; I don't know why perhaps I was just overtired. I suddenly began to shiver and wanted to cry. Topaz

hurried us to bed and brought us cocoa, and hot bricks for our feet,

and I soon felt better.

She kissed us in a motherly way that Rose doesn't appreciate, and told us not to talk too long I think she wanted to stay and talk herself but Father yelled for her to come along to bed.

"Let's finish our cocoa in the dark," I said, and blew out the candle.

Rose is always more confidential in the dark.

The first thing she said was:

"How much did Stephen tell you on the way home ?"

I told her how he had said it was too dreadful to tell.

"I wondered if he'd seen," she said. Then she began to giggle-the first time for months. The giggles became muffled and I guessed she

was stifling them in her pillow. At last she came up for air and

said:

"I slapped Neil Cotton's face."

"Rose!" I gasped.

"Why?"

She said she had looked round and seen him coming, seen the pitchfork against the sky, and let out the scream we heard.

"Then I tried to get out of the coat but I couldn't find the buttons, so I went on running. He yelled "Stop, stop" -he must have seen by then that I wasn't really a bear--then he caught up with me and grabbed me by the arm. I said "Let go, damn you" and Stephen heard my voice and called out "It's Miss Rose."

Neil Cotton shouted "But why are you running away?" and I said

"Because I don't want to meet you--or your brother either. You can both go to hell!"

And I hit him across the face."

"Oh, Rose I" I felt all knotted up by the awfulness of it.

"What did he say?"

"He said "Good God!" and then Simon and Stephen came up, and Stephen said all the people on the train were out after me.

"That's your fault," I said to Neil Cotton, "you've made me the laughing.

stock of the neighborhood." And he said "Waitbe quiet"--and then he told them to pretend there really had been a bear, as I told you."

"Don't you think it was wonderfully kind of him ?"

I asked.

She said: "Yes, in a way," then stopped, and I knew she was trying to work out something in her mind. At last she went on: "But it's all part of his not taking us seriously- not just us, but England

generally. He wouldn't have dared to pretend anything so silly in

America, I bet. He thinks England's a joke, a funny sort of toy-toy

trains, toy countryside. I could tell that by the way he talked coming home in the car."

I knew what she meant--I had felt it a bit that night they first came to the castle; not with Simon, though. And I am sure Neil doesn't mean it unkindly.

I asked what the Mother was like.

"Beautiful, and never stops talking. Father'll want to brain her with a brick."

"If he ever meets her."

"He'll meet her all right. We shall be seeing quite a lot of the Cottons now."

Her tone was so confident--almost arrogant--that I was frightened for her.

"Oh, Rose, don't be silly with them this time!"-I had said it before I could stop myself.

She simply pounced on it.

"What do you mean' silly his Did Topaz say I was ?"

I said I was merely guessing, but she wouldn't leave it at that. She

battered at me with questions. What with wanting to defend Topaz and

being very tired, I wasn't as strong-minded as I ought to have been-

and Topaz had said it might be best to tell if we got another chance

with the Cottons. But I felt perfectly dreadful when I had told- mean, both to the Cottons and Rose.

Still, if it does her any good .. . And I was careful to stress about my being consciously naive. I left out the bit about Father.

She wanted to know which brother had said the worst things.

I sorted the remarks out as best I could.

"Well, at least Simon was sorry for me," she said.

"It was Neil who suggested dropping us. Oh, how I'll pay them out!"

"Don't count it against them," I begged.

"Look how very kind they were tonight. And if you're sure they want to be friends now" "I'm sure all right."

"Did they say anything about seeing us again ?"

"Never mind what they said." And then, to my surprise, she started to giggle again--she wouldn't tell me why. When she stopped, she said she was sleepy.

I tried to keep her talking by being Miss Blossom: "Here, Rosie, have you got something up your sleeve, you naughty girl ?"

But she wasn't having any.

"If I have, it's staying there," she said.

"You and Miss Blossom go to sleep."

But I lay awake for ages, going over it all.