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The Enchanted Castle
by E. Nesbit
To Margaret Ostler with love from E. Nesbit
Peggy, you came from the heath and moor,
And you brought their airs through my open door;
You brought the blossom of youth to blow
In the Latin Quarter of Soho.
For the sake of that magic I send you here
A tale of enchantments, Peggy dear,
A bit of my work, and a bit of my heart…
The bit that you left when we had to part.
Royalty Chambers, Soho, W. 25
September 1907
There were three of them Jerry, Jimmy, and Kathleen. Of course,Jerry's name was Gerald, and not Jeremiah, whatever you maythink; and Jimmy's name was James; and Kathleen was nevercalled by her name at all, but Cathy, or Catty, or Puss Cat, whenher brothers were pleased with her, and Scratch Cat when theywere not pleased. And they were at school in a little town in theWest of England the boys at one school, of course, and the girl atanother, because the sensible habit of having boys and girls at thesame school is not yet as common as I hope it will be some day.They used to see each other on Saturdays and Sundays at the houseof a kind maiden lady; but it was one of those houses where it isimpossible to play. You know the kind of house, don't you? Thereis a sort of a something about that kind of house that makes youhardly able even to talk to each other when you are left alone, andplaying seems unnatural and affected. So they looked forward tothe holidays, when they should all go home and be together all daylong, in a house where playing was natural and conversationpossible, and where the Hampshire forests and fields were full ofinteresting things to do and see. Their Cousin Betty was to be theretoo, and there were plans. Betty's school broke up before theirs,and so she got to the Hampshire home first, and the moment shegot there she began to have measles, so that my three couldn't gohome at all. You may imagine their feelings. The thought of sevenweeks at Miss Hervey's was not to be borne, and all three wrotehome and said so. This astonished their parents very much,because they had always thought it was so nice for the children tohave dear Miss Hervey's to go to. However, they were "jolly decentabout it , as Jerry said, and after a lot of letters and telegrams, itwas arranged that the boys should go and stay at Kathleen's school,where there were now no girls left and no mistresses except theFrench one.
"It'll be better than being at Miss Hervey's," said Kathleen, whenthe boys came round to ask Mademoiselle when it would beconvenient for them to come; "and, besides, our school's not halfso ugly as yours. We do have tablecloths on the tables and curtainsat the windows, and yours is all deal boards, and desks, andinkiness."
When they had gone to pack their boxes Kathleen made all therooms as pretty as she could with flowers in jam jars marigoldschiefly, because there was nothing much else in the back garden.There were geraniums in the front garden, and calceolarias andlobelias; of course, the children were not allowed to pick these.
"We ought to have some sort of play to keep us going through theholidays," said Kathleen, when tea was over, and she had unpackedand arranged the boys clothes in the painted chests of drawers,