Free The Time Garden by Edward Eager

to the young lady for giving it to Mama!"
    "But I didn't!" gasped Ann. "It's my present from birthday before last!"
    The woman looked hurt. "How can you talk so?" she whined. "And you with so much and us with so little! Never did I think one of you nice young ladies would turn out to be a Indian giver!"
    "I'm not! It's all a mistake!" said poor Ann, hating to hurt the woman's feelings, yet not quite trusting her, somehow. She looked round for advice, but the others were busy getting supper. Then she thought of the Natterjack, and took the lid off the coffee tin. But before she could seek its aid, a man appeared in the doorway. He was a big burly fellow with a shifty eye, and Ann didn't like the look of him.
    "Supper ready, Eupheemy?" he said, sniffing the air, through which a savory scent was beginning to steal.
    "Yes, Clarence, it is, thanks to these ministering angels as ever was," said the woman. "This young lady gave me this ring. Ain't it purty?"
    The man inspected the ring. "Semiprecious!" he said, in tones of contempt. He sniffed the air again. "Mutton stew! Not much class to the bill of fare. They might at least have brought a beefsteak! Don't look like rich young ladies at all. Poorly dressed," he added, looking at Jo's shabby poplin with the burn and the tear.
    The others were listening now, and Eliza had heard enough. "Oh, is that so?" she cried, springing forward. "Well, I think you're lucky we bother helping you at all! We may not be rich, but we're more important than you think we are!"
    "Oh?" said the man, interested. "Tell me more."
    "Well," said Eliza, forgetting all her mother had ever told her about not boasting. "Take Laurie. His grandfather's a prominent citizen."
    "You don't say!" said the man, pleased. "Rich old gentleman, I presoom? Nice big house? Stately mansion?"
    "Stone," said Eliza, "with pillars."
    "Fine. Fine," said the man. "Go on."
    "And Jo may be poor," went on the headstrong girl, though Roger was glaring at her and making signs of caution, "but she's going to be a famous author any day now!"
    "Well, well," said the man, rubbing his hands together. "'Pears we've got distinguished guests, Eupheemy! It'd be a pity if they was to get away, wouldn't it? Lock the door!"
    The woman sprang from the bed with surprising agility, turned the key, and put it in her pocket. The seven "ministering angels" turned pale, as the man's purpose became plain.
    "Now see what you've done," hissed Roger to Eliza. "You've got us kidnapped!"
    "Now, now," said the man. "No need to use ugly words. We just want you to set awhile, that's all. Rich men's sonny-boys and lady-authors ought to have friends who'd pay a pretty penny to have 'em back safe an' sound!" And he laughed unpleasantly.
    "Don't worry," said Jack rather shakily to Roger and Laurie. "It's three of us fellows against one of him. Stand close together. Form a hollow square with the girls behind us."
    But Eliza needed no defending. "You'd better watch out!" she cried to the man. "/ happen to be a pretty important sorceress, myself! From the twentieth century! I've got a magic there in that coffee tin that could smash you to atoms! Isn't that so?" she appealed to the Natterjack.
    "H'atoms!" agreed the Natterjack, from the coffee tin.
    "I don't like this, Clarence," said the woman uneasily. "They got talking beasts. They come from future parts."
    "I don't believe it," said the man. "It's ventriloquists. That ain't no beast. That's a measly old frog."
    The Natterjack was affronted. "Very well," it said, puffing itself out angrily. "Deceiving these h'innocent children and these 'eroines of fiction was one thing, but h'insulting me is the last straw! Who 'as the thyme?"
    Ann held out the golden sprig and the Natterjack looked at it. "'Ighly suitable," it said. "The time I 'ave in mind may not 'ave been pleasant for some, but it was a golden age for Natterjacks!"
    It rubbed the bit of thyme with its foot and whiffed the fragrance. Maybe because nobody else whiffed,