The Enchanted Castle
E. Nesbit
Paperback
(RareBooksClub.com, Sept. 13, 2013)
Excerpt: ...that they were really only clothes and pillows and sticks with no insides. As he went up the steps he heard them talking among themselves in that strange language of theirs, all oo's and ah's; and he thought he distinguished the voice of the respectable Ugly-Wugly saying, "Most gentlemanly lad," and the wreathed-hatted lady answering warmly: "Yes, indeed." The coloured-glass door closed behind him. Behind him was the yard, peopled by seven impossible creatures. Before him lay the silent house, peopled, as he knew very well, by five human beings as frightened as human beings could be. You think, perhaps, that Ugly-Wuglies are nothing to be frightened of. That's only because you have never seen one come alive. You must make one any old suit of your father s, and a hat that he isn't wearing, a bolster or two, a painted paper face, a few sticks and a pair of boots will do the trick; get your father to lend you a wishing ring, give it back to him when it has done its work, and see how you feel then. Of course the reason why Gerald was not afraid was that he had the ring; and, as you have seen, the wearer of that is not frightened by anything unless he touches that thing. But Gerald knew well enough how the others must be feeling. That was why he stopped for a moment in the hall to try and imagine what would have been most soothing to him if he had been as terrified as he knew they were. "Cathy! I say! What ho, Jimmy! Mabel ahoy!" he cried in a loud, cheerful voice that sounded very unreal to himself. The dining-room door opened a cautious inch. "I say such larks!" Gerald went on, shoving gently at the door with his shoulder. "Look out! what are you keeping the door shut for?" "Are you alone?" asked Kathleen in hushed, breathless tones. "Yes, of course. Don't be a duffer!" The door opened, revealing three scared faces and the disarranged chairs where that odd audience had sat. "Where are they? Have you unwished them? We heard them talking. Horrible!"...