CHAPTER XIX
_Molly Looks Through Miss Lydia's Window_
Molly led Miss Lydia into the cottage parlour--a dainty, fresh littleroom--and brought a chair forward into which Miss Lydia sank gratefully.
"Can I get you anything? Shall I make you some tea?" suggested Mollycheerfully.
There was no answer, and then she saw that Miss Lydia was crying softlyto herself.
"Oh, dear! I'm so sorry, Miss Lydia," said Molly, distressed. "Oh, whatcan I do? Is there anything you'd like me to do?"
"I don't know what to do," said Miss Lydia. "I feel so helpless herealone. If only I could get a message through to my sister in the City,she'd come to me immediately--if she knew. What shall I do?... Youhave been so good to me--it's a shame to bother you with my troubles,though."
Molly sat down on a chair opposite to Miss Lydia, and tried to decidewhat to do. Molly felt very perplexed and troubled herself. It seemedcruel to leave Miss Lydia here alone in this deserted spot, and yetif she took her with her it would cause so much delay, and time wasgetting short now.
"Have you no friends near here that I could fetch for you?" asked Molly.
Miss Lydia shook her head. "No one very near. I came to live in thislonely little house away from my friends, so that I could get on withmy work. I am an artist--I was an artist," she corrected herself. "Icannot paint pictures now. I cannot watch the sun sink over the hillsnor see the stars reflected in the water. What shall I do? What shall Ido?" she sobbed bitterly.
"Oh, don't, don't, Miss Lydia!" begged Molly. "Listen. I know what I'lldo. Tell me the address of the friends who live nearest here, and Iwill go and fetch them. I will bring them back myself--and then go onmy way. You will not mind being left for a short time, will you?"
"No," said Miss Lydia. "I don't feel I dare go out again. I will waithere. You are so good to me. I do hope I am not giving you too muchtrouble."
By this time Molly had quite made up her mind that Miss Lydia wassincere; no doubt of her sincerity entered Molly's mind until happeningto glance out of the window she saw some one dodge out of sight behinda bush in the garden--some one with a red scarf bound round her head.
Molly's knees began to shake. What could this mean? What was the oldwoman with the horrible eyes doing here in Miss Lydia's garden? Was ita trap? She looked over at Miss Lydia who was sitting patiently whereMolly had placed her. Molly moved softly toward the window, and stood,hidden by the window curtain, looking out. In a few seconds she sawthe old woman's hand come round the side of the bush and make a signaltoward the hedge by the fence. The hedge stirred a bit. So there wassome one else hiding there, thought Molly. She turned to Miss Lydia.The sight of the blind woman's gentle face reassured her. No, if thiswas a trap, Miss Lydia had nothing to do with it; Molly felt sure ofthat. Anyway, she decided that it was better to tell Miss Lydia whatshe had just seen in the garden.
Miss Lydia was terribly agitated at first, and cried, and seemed soupset that she made Molly want to cry too.
"But we must be brave, Miss Lydia," said Molly. "Trust me, and dowhat I tell you, will you?" she urged. "We must help each other allwe can. I will help you with my eyes, and you must help me with yourears--listen and tell me what you hear. And you can help me by tellingme where to find things and all that."
Miss Lydia calmed down gradually, and promised to aid Molly as much aspossible.
Molly's first act was to ascertain that all the windows were lockedand the front and back doors bolted. While seeing to these things shediscovered that there were two other spies lurking in the back garden.One looked something like the figure of the old watchmaker, only he wasdressed differently. The other man she had not seen before. They wereboth badly concealed among some tall plants and ferns.
"Why are all the spies gathering here together?" Molly asked herself."Do they know I've seen them, I wonder. They don't mean to let me getout of this house. They seem to be watching all round it."
"What can you see? What can you see?" asked Miss Lydia, pleadingly.
Molly told her. "I don't think they can hurt us--so long as we keepindoors. They're only guarding the house to see that I don't get away,until----" Molly broke off; "until the Pumpkin comes," was what she hadbeen going to say, but there was no need to set Miss Lydia tremblingafresh.
Molly herself was in such a state of excitement, darting noiselesslyfrom one window to another, comforting Miss Lydia, and telling her whatshe could see, that there was hardly time to be very frightened.
Miss Lydia divided her attention between the front door and theback, listening anxiously at each in turn. Presently she rememberedsomething, and called quietly to Molly:
"There is a little room at the very top of the house, in the roof,a room I use as a studio," she said. "If you go up you will have abetter view of the garden, and will be able to see far outside thegarden, over the hedges as well."
"I will go at once and see what I can make out," said Molly. "But I sawno stairs leading up any higher."
"They are in the cupboard on the landing," was Miss Lydia's reply."I'll wait here by the front door."
Molly dashed upstairs, found the cupboard on the landing, and, openingthe door, saw the concealed stairs. She ran up these to the studio.There were four windows in the studio, one on each side of the room.She looked out of each in turn, taking care to keep well back in theroom so as to be out of sight. There were splendid views from thesewindows. She could see clearly now the old woman still crouching behindthe bush in the front garden. She could see, too, who was behind thehedge; it was the girl in green who had met them in the Third GreenLane and decoyed them to the old woman.
From the window that looked out on to the back garden she saw the othertwo spies still hiding there, and a third spy hiding a little fartheraway from them. Her eyes wandered round the garden, then all at onceshe gave a gasp as she caught sight of something that made her heartseem to stop beating for a moment, then start to hammer madly at herside.
It was a large Black Leaf, growing in the garden bed, just behind wherethe two spies were hiding; so that from the lower windows they hadhidden it completely from her eyes.
Molly could scarcely believe it for a moment, and looked again to makesure. Yes; it was the Black Leaf at last!
_Now_ she understood the presence of the spies here, and their anxietyto keep her away from the garden, which contained the Leaf they darednot touch. And now she understood the reason why the Pumpkin had madeMiss Lydia blind.
What a wonder the Pumpkin was not somewhere near to guard the Leaf, shethought. And even as she thought this, she saw the Pumpkin. He camerolling slowly along the garden path toward the back door.
"Oh, however am I to get the Leaf with the Pumpkin and all his spiesaround?" thought Molly.
Then she heard Miss Lydia's voice calling up the stairs: "Come quickly!Hush! I can hear that rolling sound again, out in the garden."
Molly ran downstairs.
"Oh, Miss Lydia, Miss Lydia!" she whispered, excitedly. "Do youknow why they're all round this house?--the spies, and the Pumpkinhimself--yes, it is he--oh, hush, Miss Lydia! Do you know the reason?The Black Leaf is growing in your garden! I can see it from your studiowindow."
Half crying, half laughing, Molly explained rapidly; while Miss Lydiawrung her hands together and listened intently.
"'Sh!" she interrupted, suddenly. "Listen. I can hear the rolling soundoutside the front door now--_and_ the back door."
"Not both at once?" queried Molly.
"Yes, I can. Listen."
"Then--oh, then it must be Jack as well--if there are two Pumpkins,"cried Molly tremulously. "But I don't expect he can help us," she wenton quietly. "He's under the power of the Pumpkin entirely; he'll justhave to obey orders."
Molly was thinking rapidly. What was she to do? How could she reachthe Leaf before the Pumpkin touched her. Every moment she expected tohear three taps on one of the doors, and see it swing open and thePumpkin roll in. She made Miss Lydia sit at the top of the stai
rs, andshe herself stood half-way up, ready to run, if necessary. What wasshe to do? So far the Pumpkin had made no attempt to enter the house,but was content to bide his time outside. Unfortunately Molly did notknow which door he was waiting at, nor which of the two Grey Pumpkinsoutside was the real Pumpkin and which was Jack.
How could she reach the Black Leaf before the Pumpkin or the spiescould stop her? Try to reach it she must, yet she knew if she steppedoutside she would not stand a moment's chance. On the other hand,she and Miss Lydia might remain shut up in this house for ever solong--perhaps until the thirteen days were up and the Leaf haddisappeared; and then the Pumpkin could tap on the door and enter, andthey would be powerless to defend themselves. If only something wouldhappen to distract the watchers outside, just for half a minute, thatwould be time enough--she could reach the Leaf in less time than that.Oh, how tantalizingly near the Leaf seemed--and yet how far away.
Presently Molly asked, "Is there a tree in your garden that growsanywhere near one of the upstairs windows, Miss Lydia? I didn't noticewhen I ran through the rooms."
"There is one at the side of the house," said Miss Lydia. "It canbe reached from my bedroom window--the branches tap against thewindow-pane. Why? What do you want to know about the tree for?"
"Wait a moment," said Molly. "I'll just run up and have a look at itfirst."
While she was upstairs she had another look out of the studio windowalso. Of course the Leaf was still there--and the two crouching figuresamong the tall plants. Molly had thought out her plan by this time, andnoticed with satisfaction that evening was rapidly approaching. For,"It must be done in the dusk," she told herself. "Just before the mooncomes up."
She went down to Miss Lydia again and sat beside her at the top of thefirst flight of stairs.
"The tree will do splendidly," whispered Molly. Then she told hercompanion what she had planned to do. "And I want you to help me, ifyou will, Miss Lydia." She paused. "I'm going to ask you to do a veryplucky thing. In half an hour's time I want you to draw the bolts ofthe back door and walk out into the garden."
Miss Lydia was startled.
"I know it seems a dreadfully hard thing to ask you to do," Mollywent on hurriedly. "But I believe it is the only way out of ourdifficulties. For the sake of every one who has suffered through thePumpkin, for my sake, for your own sake, will you take the risk, MissLydia? In the end, it may be the means of restoring your sight, youknow."
They talked in whispers for a while.
"And you don't think it's any good waiting?--in case some help comes?"asked Miss Lydia wistfully.
"Not a bit of good, I'm afraid," said Molly gently. "It's very unlikelythat help will come--I think we must rely only on ourselves."
"Then I won't fail you," said Miss Lydia.
They sat there, talking occasionally, until dusk fell. Then Molly wentinto Miss Lydia's bedroom, and cautiously opened the window and lookedout. There appeared to be no one watching this side of the house; ifthere was any one, it was too dark to see them, and so they would notbe able to see her, Molly thought. She had strapped her little pocketsatchel firmly across her shoulders, and just inside, where she couldeasily reach it, was Old Nancy's box of matches.
Fortunately there was a slight breeze blowing, so that any rustling ofthe trees, unless unusually loud, would not attract attention. Mollygot out on to the window sill, and from there climbed as noiselesslyas possible into the tree. Molly had had a good deal of experiencein tree-climbing now, nevertheless she was trembling as she loweredherself down to the branches nearest the ground; it was not a nicesensation climbing down, when you didn't know what was at the bottom.She waited for a while, and listened, peering out from among theleaves. Nothing stirred in the garden below.
As far as she could make out, she had but to drop to the ground, runround the corner of the house along the path, or across the garden bed,and the Leaf was on the left-hand side, she remembered, close to a bigtree, whose outline could be dimly seen.
Molly waited, full of doubts and anxieties. After all, was this a wiseplan to try? was it too simple to have any chance of success? What along time Miss Lydia was. Supposing her courage failed at the lastmoment--well, who could blame her? It was such an easy thing for MissLydia to do, and yet such a hard thing. The Pumpkin was almost sure tocatch her--poor Miss Lydia--but it would only be a momentary triumph;Molly would soon see that things were put right again--that is, ifthe Pumpkin did not catch Molly too. But Molly dared not think aboutthat. She was strung up to such a pitch of nervous excitement thatevery second seemed like a whole minute, while she waited. How brave itwould be of Miss Lydia if she did--But what a long time she was. Couldanything have happened to her? Perhaps the Pumpkin had.... Hark! whatwas that!
It was the sound of the back door bolts being withdrawn.
Instantly there was a stir in the garden, and a subdued murmuringfloated up to Molly's ears.
The back door was flung open noisily, and footsteps could be heard onthe path. Molly got out her box of matches.
The garden was now alive with whispering figures. Several movedquickly toward the back door; there was a scuffle; a scream; the soundof footsteps running, and a dull thud, thud; then the sound of manyvoices, calling, shouting directions, raised high as if in some dispute.
In the midst of all this Molly dropped to the ground and ran rapidlyround the corner of the house, bounded over the garden bed, skirtingthe clump of plants where she had seen the two spies hiding, and madestraight for the big tree. Just as she reached the spot where shethought the Black Leaf was, she felt some one grab hold of her arm andshe was jerked back.
"Here she is! Here she is! That's not her at the back door! Here sheis! Ah, ha...!" screamed a voice in the darkness beside her, the voiceof the old woman with the horrible eyes, who had evidently run to guardthe Leaf when the back door opened. "Quick! Come quick! Here she is!_Now_ I've got you, my beauty!"
Immediately there was an uproar. The rush of many feet, shouts,exclamations, came from every direction. There had evidently been farmore spies hiding in the garden than Molly had known.
Quick as thought, she struck one of Old Nancy's matches, and as thelight spurted out of the darkness, she flashed the flame across thehands that were gripping her arm. With a cry of pain the old womanloosened her grasp, and Molly wriggled and, darting forward, clutchedat the stalk of the Black Leaf--and plucked it.
Holding the flaring match in one hand, high above her head, andclasping the Black Leaf firmly in the other hand, Molly called out in aclear voice the words Old Nancy had told her:
"Come to me, Grey Pumpkin! I command you by the Black Leaf!"
Slowly, very slowly, there emerged from the darkness two Grey Pumpkins.As they rolled toward her, Molly glanced hesitatingly from one to theother; then, as they came within reach, she stooped and hastily touchedboth with the Leaf. The Pumpkins rocked to and fro for a second, thenbecame still at her feet.
The Grey Pumpkin was conquered at last.
Molly stood silent. She could hardly realize that it was true. Aftera while she became aware of a curious stillness in the garden; thePumpkin's friends had quietly crept away.
Molly looked down at the Pumpkins in front of her, vaguelydisappointed. She had somehow had a feeling that Jack would be restoredto her directly she had found the Black Leaf. The two Grey Pumpkins ather feet looked each exactly the same as the other--she could not tellwhich was the real Grey Pumpkin herself. This, then, was the Pumpkin'sobject in turning Jack into a likeness of himself; this was his lastrevenge. Poor Molly, she had been looking forward eagerly to seeingJack again; there was so much good news to share with him; and so, inher moment of triumph, Molly's eyes were full of tears.
"I can't understand it," she thought. "I expected he would change backwhen I touched him with the Black Leaf.... I must take them both backto Old Nancy; she'll know what to do."
Then, with a pang of remorse, she remembered Miss Lydia.
QUICK AS THOUGHT, SHE STRUCK ONE OF OLD N
ANCY'SMATCHES]
"Follow me," said Molly to the Pumpkins, and they obeyed her. It wasstrange that both of them obeyed the holder of the Black Leaf, but theydid, following about a couple of yards behind her.
At the door of the cottage she found Miss Lydia lying on the ground,her face white and her eyes closed. Molly called her by name, but shedid not answer. It was growing a little lighter now, as the moon wasbeginning to appear. Molly groped her way into the house and fetchedsome water, and knelt and bathed Miss Lydia's forehead, calling hergently from time to time. It was a curious scene in the dim garden.Molly on her knees beside Miss Lydia, the Black Leaf tucked intothe strap of her satchel, while on each side of the doorway, likesentinels, were two motionless Grey Pumpkins.
At length Miss Lydia stirred, and gradually recovered. Presently sheopened her eyes, then gave a glad cry.
"Oh, I can see! I can see!" she said. "Oh, my dear!" And she cried alittle, then began to laugh.
Molly told her quickly what had happened, and Miss Lydia was overjoyedat beholding the Black Leaf in Molly's hand, and the Pumpkin waitingfor commands, though she was grieved and puzzled that Molly's brotherhad not yet been restored. She, herself, could not remember anythingafter she had come outside into the garden.
"I felt something bump against me, and I fell--and that's all," shesaid. "But I'm better now."
"The first thing I must do," said Molly, "is to set fire to the nearestbeacon. They are marked on my map ... there is one being guarded on ahill close by."
* * * * *
Half an hour later a flame sprang out of the night, on the top of ahill near the Giant's Head. Spreading rapidly, the fire darted andleapt, rising higher and higher, until it became a great mass ofblazing light.
People far and near stopped and gazed, crying excitedly to each other."Look! Look! It's the beacon--the first beacon! The Black Leaf isfound!"
And as they watched, an answering beacon leapt forth from aneighbouring height. Hill after hill took up the glad news and passedit on, until the beacons, blazing throughout the kingdom, turned nightinto day.