Five on Finniston Farm (7 page)

„Oh, but that"s where you"re wrong!" said Mr Finniston, triumphantly. „There are stones from the castle - all over the farm. But only I and old Great-Grand-dad know where they are now! There"s an old wall with some of the castle stones at the bottom - and there"s a well -

but no, I mustn"t tel you these secrets. You might tell them to the Americans who come here and buy up al our old treasures!"

„We won"t! We promise!" said both girls at once, and Timmy thumped his tail on the floor, as if he too agreed.

„Well, maybe Great-Grand-dad wil show you one or two of the old castle stones," said Mr Finniston. „But I doubt it - I doubt it! I"l tell you one thing you can see at the farm-house, though - everybody knows about it, so it"s no secret. Have you seen the old kitchen door, that leads out into the yard?"

„Yes. That oak door, studded with iron knobs, do you mean?" said Anne at once. „They"re quite fashionable now as front doors in ordinary houses, you know. Surely that farmhouse door isn"t a real old one?"

Mr Finniston put his head into his hands and groaned as if he were in pain.

„Fashionable! FASHIONABLE! What wil they do next? Surely you can"t mix up that fine old door with the trashy copies you"ve seen in modern houses? What"s the world coming to?

Couldn"t you feel that that door was real - was as old as the centuries - and once hung on great hinges in a castle? Don"t you know when things are grand with the weight of years?"

„Well," said Anne, rather out of her depth, „I did notice the door - but, you see, it"s very dark just there, and we real y can"t see it very clearly."

„Ah well - most people go about with their eyes shut half the time!" said Mr Finniston. „You have a look at that door - feel it - look at the great knocker on it. Think of the old Norman folk who hammered on the door with it, all those ages ago!"

George sighed. This kind of thing didn"t interest her as much as it interested Anne. A thought suddenly struck her.

„But Mr Finniston - if the castle was built of stone - how was it burnt to the ground?" she said. „What happened?"

„I can"t find out," said Mr Finniston sadly. „I"ve been into every old library in the county, and looked up every old book of that period - and I"ve delved into the old records in Finniston church. As far as I can make out, the castle was stormed by enemies - and, as I said, a traitor inside set fire to it at the same time. The floors fell in, and the castle was left blazing from top to bottom. The great walls fell inwards and covered the base - and the Finniston family fled. Lord Finniston was kil ed - but his Lady took the children and hid them

- it"s said she hid them in the old chapel, near the barns of the farm. Maybe she took them down a secret underground passage, leading from the dungeons to the old chapel itself."

„An old chapel - is it stil there?" asked Anne. „Or was it burnt too?"

„No - it wasn"t burnt. It"s stil standing," said Mr Finniston. „Old Great-Grand-dad wil show you." He shook his head sorrowful y. „It"s a store-house for grain now. Sad, sad. But, mind you - it"s stil full of prayer!"

The girls stared at him, wondering what he meant. They began to think he must be a little mad. He stood with his head bent, saying nothing for a while. Then he looked up.

„Well, that"s the story, my dears - and it"s not only a story, it"s history! It happened over seven hundred years ago. And I"l tel you something else..."

„What?" asked the two girls.

„That castle had cel ars - and dungeons!" said the old man. „The fire only burnt down to the ground floor, which was made of earth flattened down, not wood, so it wouldn"t burn.

The cel ars and dungeons can"t have been destroyed - are they stil there, undamaged?

That"s what"s been in my mind all these long years. What was down in those cellars - and is it stil there?"

He spoke in such a hol ow voice that the girls felt quite scared. George recovered herself first. „But why were the dungeons never uncovered?" she asked. „I mean, surely someone must have thought of them and wondered about them?"

„Well, when the castle fel , and the walls collapsed, any underground entrances must have been completely covered with enormously heavy stones," said Mr Finniston, peering at them earnestly. „The peasants and farm-hands living around couldn"t possibly move them, and maybe they were too scared to, anyhow. They probably lay there for years, til the wind and weather broke them up. Then they were taken to build walls and line wel s.

But by that time everyone had forgotten about dungeons. Might have been centuries later, you see."

He stood and brooded for a while, and the girls waited politely for him to go on. „Yes -

everyone forgot ... and everyone stil forgets," he said. „Sometimes I wake up in the night and wonder what"s underground there. Bones of prisoners? Chests of money? Things stored away by the Lady of the castle? I wake up and wonder!"

Anne felt uncomfortable. Poor old man! He lived absolutely in the past! His mind had weaved for him a living fantasy, a story that had no certain foundation, no real truth. She was sorry for him. She wished she could go and see the place where the old castle had once stood! It would be overgrown with grass and weeds, nettles would wave there, and poppies dance in the summer. There would probably be nothing at all to show where once a proud castle had stood, its towers high against the sky, flags flying along the battlements. She could almost hear the cries of the enemy, galloping up on horseback, and the fearful clash of swords! She shook herself and stood up straight.

„I"m as bad as this old man!" she thought. „Imagining things! But what a tale! The others wil love to hear it. I wonder if the American knows it."

„Does that American, Mr Henning, know the old story?" she asked, and the old man straightened up at once.

„Not the whole of it - only what he has heard in the vil age!" he said. „He comes here and pesters me. He"d like to bring in men and dig up the whole thing! I know him! He"d buy up all the farm, just for the sake of getting that castle site - if he real y knew there was something worth having, deep under the ground where it once stood. You won"t tell him what I"ve told you, wil you? I"ve talked too much. I always do when someone"s upset me.

Ah - to think my ancestors once lived in Finniston Castle - and here I am now - a poor old man in a little antique shop that nobody comes to!"

„Well, we"ve come to it," said Anne. „I did want to buy some horse-brasses, but I"l come another time. You"re upset now. You go and have a rest!"

They went out of the little shop, almost on tiptoe! „My word!" said George, thril ed. „I just can"t wait to tell the boys! What a story - and it real y sounded true, Anne, didn"t it? I vote we find out where that old castle real y stood, and then go and have a look round. Who knows what we might find! Come along - let"s get back to the farm as quickly as we can!"

Anne and George, with Timmy running in front, went back to the farm to find the boys, but they couldn"t see them anywhere and gave it up. Then they went indoors and found Mrs Philpot shel ing peas. They took over the job at once.

„The boys are stil helping to mend the henhouse," said Mrs Philpot. “The Harries are pleased to have two more pairs of hands to help them! Something always seems to need repairing! If only we could get a few things we need so badly - a new tractor, for instance.

But they cost so much! The barns want mending too, and the hen-houses are almost falling down!"

„I hope the harvest wil be good for you," said Anne. „That wil help, won"t it?"

„Oh yes - we"ll keep our fingers crossed for fine weather from now on!" said Mrs Philpot.

„Thank goodness the cows are such good milkers! What we should do without our milk-money, I really don"t know! But there - why should I bother you with my troubles when you"re here for a nice holiday!"

„You don"t bother us - and we think it"s awfully nice of you to let us help," said Anne. „We shouldn"t like it if you didn"t!"

The girls had no chance of telling the boys what old Mr Finniston had told them, until the afternoon came. They were up at the henhouses with the two Harries and Snippet, happily hammering and sawing. Snippet was delighted to have so many people whistling cheerily round him, and busily took bits of wood from one boy to another, under the mistaken impression that he was a great help!

Nosey the jackdaw was there too, but he wasn"t nearly so popular as Snippet! He pounced on any bright nail or screw he saw, and flew off with it, heedless of the exasperated shouts that followed him.

„Blow that jackdaw!" said Julian, looking up crossly. „He"s just taken the very nail I wanted!

Nosey by name and nosey by nature!"

The twins laughed. They seemed entirely different children now that they were friendly -

amusing, helpful and most responsible. Julian and Dick admired them - no work was too hard, no hours were too long if they could help their mother or father.

„We hated you coming here because we knew it would give Mother so much more work,"

said Harry. „We thought if we were beastly to you, you"d go. But you don"t make more work! You help an awful lot. It"s fun to have you here."

„I hope the girls are back," said Dick. „I know your mother wants help with the peas - such a lot of people to shel for - let me see - counting in your Great-Grand-dad, there wil be about a dozen people in to dinner. Whew! I certainly do hope the girls are in. Ah - here comes that nosey jackdaw again. Look out, Dick, he"s after those screws. Snippet, chase him!"

Away went the tiny poodle after the cheeky jackdaw, barking in his high little voice, thoroughly enjoying having so many children round him. Nosey flew up on to the top of the hen-house, and flapped his wings, chacking rude things in a very loud voice indeed.

Dinner was rather a crowded meal, for everyone was there. Great-Grand-dad frowned when he saw Mr Henning come in with Junior. Junior strutted to his place at table, giving George his best scowl. However, she was just as good at scowling as Junior, and Mr Henning, who happened to catch sight of her giant-size scowl, had quite a shock.

„Now, now, my boy," he said to her. „Why pul such an ugly face?"

Nobody told him that George was a girl. Mrs Philpot was really very much amused. She liked George, and couldn"t help thinking she would have made a very good boy indeed!

„Er - Mrs Philpot - would it be all right if I bring a friend to lunch here tomorrow?" asked Mr Henning. „He"s called Durleston - Mr Durleston - and he"s a great authority on antiques.

He"s going to give me some advice. You"l remember that you told me you had a quaint old hole in the wall in one of the bedrooms - where in the old days people used to heat embers for warming-pans, and bricks to put in between the bed-sheets. I thought I..."

„You thought you could buy "em, I suppose!" suddenly shouted old Great-Grand-dad from his place at the head of the table. He thumped on the cloth with the handle of his knife. „Well, you ask my permission first, see? This place is stil mine. I"m an old man, I"m nearly ninety, but I"ve stil got all my wits about me. I don"t like this selling of things that have been in our family for donkeys" years! That I don"t! And..."

„Now, now, Grand-dad, don"t excite yourself," said Mrs Philpot, in her gentle voice. „Surely it"s better to sel old things that we shal never use, in order to buy a new set of tools, or wood to mend the barns?"

„Why can t we sell "em to our own folks, then?" shouted Great-Grand-dad, banging with his fork as well. „Taking them out of the country! Part of our history, they are! Sel ing our birthright, that"s what we"re doing - for a mess of pottage! That"s out of the Bible, let me tell you, Mr Henning, in case you don"t know."

„SHURE I KNOW," said Mr Henning, getting up and shouting back at Great-Grand-dad.

„I"m not as ignorant as you seem to think. You ought to be glad that a poor, run-down, back-dated country like Britain has got anything to sell to a fine upstanding one like America! You..."

„That"s enough, Mr Henning," said Mrs Philpot, with such dignity that Mr Henning blushed red, and sat down in a great hurry. „Sorry, mam," he said. „But that old man, he gets under my skin. Sure he does! What"s gotten into him? Al I want is to buy things you want to sell.

You want new tractors - I want old junk and I"m wil ing to pay for it. That"s all there is to it -

buying and sel ing!"

OLD JUNK!" shouted Great-Grand-dad again, banging with his glass now. „Do you call that great old cart-wheel you bought OLD JUNK? Why, that"s more than two hundred years old! My Great-Grand-dad made it - he told me so, when I was a mite of a boy. You won"t find another wheel like it in England. HOO - that wheel was made before the first American was born! I tell you..."

„Now, now, Grand-dad, you know you"l feel il if you go on like this," said Mrs Philpot, and she got up and went to the old man, who was shaking with fury. „You belong to old times, and you don"t like the new times, and I don"t blame you. But things change, you know.

Calm yourself, and come with me and have a lie-down."

Surprisingly, the old fel ow allowed Mrs Philpot to lead him out of the room. The seven children had al sat silent while the shouting had been going on. Mr Philpot, looking worried, broke his habitual silence and addressed a few words to the equally worried-looking Mr Henning.

„Storm in a tea-cup," he said. „Soon blow over."

„Hmmmm," said Mr Henning. „Spoilt my dinner! Selfish, ignorant, rude old man."

„He"s not," said one of the twins, in a voice trembling with anger. „He"s..."

„Enough, Harry!" said his father, in such a stern voice, that Harry subsided at once, but began to grind his teeth, to show that he was stil angry, making a most remarkable noise at the now silent table. Junior had sat as stil as a mouse al the time, scared of the angry old man. Timmy had given a few smal growls, and Snippet had shot straight out of the kitchen as soon as Great-Grand-dad had begun to shout!

Mrs Philpot came back, and sat down, looking sad and tired. Julian began to talk to her about Janie and the macaroons, and soon succeeded in making her smile. She even laughed out loud when George told her that they had six macaroons to give Bil for taking them out in the Land-Rover.