menu_book Chapter 8

section eight of fairy prince and other stories by eleanor hallowell abbott this librivox recording is in the public domain the gift of the probable places part two he made a little chuckle in his throat he began to look at young annie halloway all over again and what does your mother say about her he pointed my mother says i explained that she only hopes that the person who finds her mind will be honest enough to return it what said old man smith to return it honest enough to return it he began to do everything all over again to chuckle to rock to tink young annie halliway's chin in his hand and what did you say your name was my pretty darling he asked young annie halliway looked a little surprised my name is robin she said dearest robin i think you think wrong said old man smith he frowned with ferocity it made us pretty nervous all of a sudden carol went off to look at the beehive to calm himself young annie halliway picked up the end of one of her long braids and looked at that there was still about a foot of it that didn't have anything braided into it

i didn't know where to look so i looked at the house it was very glistening blue it glistened and green it glistened and red it glistened and pink and purple and yellow oh see i pointed there's old mrs beckett's rose vase with the gold edge she dropped it on the brick garden walk the day her son who'd been lost at sea for eleven years walked through the gate all alive and perfectly dry and that chunky white nozzle with the blue stripe on it i know what that is it's the nose of deacon perry's first wife's best teapot i've seen it there in a glass cupboard on the top shelf she never used it cept when the preacher came but deacon's second wife broke it feeding the chickens out of it said old man smith and that little scrap of saucer i cried with the pansy petal on it why that's little hallie bent's doll dishes we played with em down in the orchard she died i cried she had the whooping measles that little scrap of saucer said old man smith was the only thing they found in mr bent's bank box what the widow was looking for was gold

and that green glass stopper i cried oh goody goody goody why that hush your noise said old man smith history is solemn the whole history of the village is written on the outer walls of my house When the sun strikes here, strikes there, on that bit of glass, on this bit of crockles, the edge of a plate, the rim of a tumbler, I read about folks' minds. What they loved, what they hated, what they was thinking of instead when it broke. He snatched his long white beard in his hands.

He wagged his head at me. There's a law about breaking things, he said, same as there's a law about losing them. My house is a sample book, he said. on them there walls all stuck up like that i've got a sample of most every mind in the village people give them to me themselves he said they let me rake out their trash barrels every now and then

they don't know what they're given now that little pewter rosette there it would be nice wouldn't it i said if you could find a sample of young annie holloway's mind then maybe you could match it. Hey, said old man Smith, a sample of her mind. He looked jerky. He growled in his throat. Ahem, ahem, he said. He closed his eyes. I thought he'd decided to die. I screamed for Carol. He came running. He'd only been bee-stung twice. Old man Smith opened his eyes. His voice sounded queer.

Where do they think she lost her mind, he whispered. In Europe, I said, maybe in a train. maybe on a boat they don't know she can't remember anything about it h'm said old man smith he looked at young annie halliway and where do you think you lost it he said young annie halliway seemed very much pleased to be asked she laughed right out in a march wind she said eh said old man smith he turned to me again what did you say her name was he asked i felt a little cross halloway i said halloway halloway halloway they live in the big house out by the chestnut trees they only come here in the summers except now the doctors say it's mysteria the doctors say what is mysteria said old man smith what annie's got i explained what made her lose her mind mysteria is what they call it hmm said old man smith he reached way down into his pocket he pulled out a box he opened the box it was full of pieces of colored glass and of china

he juggled them in his hands they looked gay red they were and green and white and yellow and blue he snatched out all the blue ones and hid em quick in his pocket she seemed sort of partial to blue he said there was one funny big piece of glass that was awful shiny when he held it up to the light it glinted and glowed all sorts of colors it made your eyes feel very calm annie halliway reached out her hand for it she didn't say a word she just stared at it with her hand all reached out but old man smith didn't give it to her he just sat and stared at her eyes her eyes never moved from the shining bit of glass they looked awful funny bigger and bigger they got and rounder and rounder and stiller and stiller it was like a puppy dog pointing a little bird in the grass it made you feel queer it made you feel all sort of hollow inside it made your legs wobble carol's mouth was wide open so was old man smith's old man smith reached out suddenly and put the shining bit of glass right into annie halliway's hand it fell through her fingers but her hand stayed just where it was reaching out into the air

put down your arm said old man smith annie halliway put it down her eyes were still staring very wide look said old man smith look he dropped several pieces of colored glass china into her lap she chose the handle of a red teacup and a little chunk of yellow crockery she stared and stared at them but all the time it was as though her eyes didn't see them all the time it was as though she was looking at something very far away Then all of a sudden she began to jingle them together in her hand, the little piece of red china and the chunk of yellow bowl, and swing her shoulders and stamp her foot. It looked like dancing. It sounded like clappers. Oh, ho, this is Spain, she laughed. Old Man Smith snatched all the blue pieces of china and glass out of his pocket again and tossed them into her lap.

He looked sort of mad. Spain, he said. Spain? What in the old Harry has a handful of glass and china got to do with Spain? Harry, said Annie Halloway.

Old Harry? Her eyes looked wider and blinder every minute. It was as though everything in her was wide awake except the things she was thinking about. Harry, she puzzled. Harry? She dropped the red and yellow china from her hand and picked up a piece of blue glass and offered it to old man Smith. Why, that is Harry, she said. She reached for

the pigtail that had the blue larkspur braided into it. She pointed to the pigtail that had the blue fan braided into it. Why, that is Harry, she said. She made a little sob in her throat. Old Man Smith jingled his hands at her. There, there, there, my pretty, he said. Never mind, never mind. He opened his hands. There were some little teeny tiny pieces of plain glass in his hands. Little round knobs, like beads they were, very shining. They made a nice jingle.

When Annie Halloway saw them, she screamed and snatched them in her hand and threw them away just as far as she could. All over the grass she threw them. I will not, she screamed. I will not. I will not. Her tears were awful.

When she got through screaming, her face looked like a wet cloth that had everything else wrung out of it except shadows. Where is Harry, said old man Smith. He said it very slowly, and then all over again. Where is Harry?

You wouldn't have dares not tell him if you'd known. Annie Halloway started to pick up some blue glass again. Then she stopped and looked all around her. It was a jerky stop. Her jaw sort of dropped.

Harry is in prison, she said. Even though she'd said it herself, she seemed to be awfully surprised at the news. She shook and shook her head as though she was trying to wake up the idea that was asleep. Her eyes were all scrunched up now with trying to remember about it. She dragged the back of her hands across her forehead.

First one hand and then the other. She opened her eyes very wide again and looked at Old Man Smith. Where is Harry? said Old Man Smith. Annie Halloway never took her eyes from Old Man Smith's face. It was the night we crossed the border from France to Spain, she said.

Her voice sounded very funny and far away. It sounded like reciting a lesson, too. There were seven of us and a teacher from the Paris Art School, she recited. It was the March holiday. There was a woman, a strange woman, in the next compartment who made friends with me.

She seemed to be crazy over my hair. She asked if she might braid it for the night. Without any tears at all, Annie Halloway began to sob again. When they waked us up at the custom, she sobbed, Harry came running. His face was awful. She's braided diamonds in your hair, he cried. I heard her talking with her accomplice. A hundred thousand dollars worth of diamonds. Smugglers and murderers both they are.

Everybody will be searched. He tore at my braids. I tore at my braids. The diamonds rattled out. Harry tried to catch them.

He pushed me back into the train. I saw soldiers running. I thought they were going to shoot him. He thought they were going to shoot him. I saw his eyes.

He looked so, so surprised. I'd never noticed before how blue his eyes were. I tell you, I saw his eyes. I couldn't speak. There wasn't anybody to explain just why. He had his hands full of diamonds. I saw his eyes. I tell you, I couldn't speak. I tell you, I never spoke. My tongue went dead in my mouth.

For months I never spoke. I've only just begun to speak again. I've only just. She started to jump up from the ground where she was sitting. She couldn't. She had braided old man Smith in his wheelchair into her hair. When she saw what she had done, she toppled right over on her face and fainted all out. Over behind the lilac bush, somebody screamed. It was Annie Halloway's mother. With her was a strange gentleman who had come all the way from New York to try and cure Annie

Halloway. The strange gentleman was some special kind of a doctor. Hush, hush, the special doctor kept saying to everybody, this is a very crucial moment. Can't you see that this is a very crucial moment? He pointed to Annie Halloway on the grass. Her mother knelt beside her trying very hard to comb old man Smith in his wheelchair out of her pigtail. Speak to her, said the doctor. Speak to her very gently. Annie cried her mother. Annie, Annie, Annie. Annie Halloway opened her

eyes very slowly and looked up. It was a brand new kind of look. It had a bottom to it instead of being just through and through and through. There was a little smile in it, too. It was a pretty look. Why, Mother, said Annie Halloway, where am I? The special man from New York made a queer little sound in his throat. Thank God, he said, she's all right now. It seemed pretty quick to me. You mean, I said, that her mysteria is all cured now? Not mysteria, said the special

man from New York. Hysteria. No, her-steria, corrected old man Smith. The special man from New York began to laugh, but Annie Halloway's mother began to cry. Oh, just suppose we'd never found her, she cried. She looked at Carol. She looked at me. She glared a little, but not so awfully much. When you naughty children ran away with her, she cried, and we couldn't find her anywhere, and the doctor came, and there was only an hour to spare, and we got a horse and drove

round anywhere, and, and—' I wouldn't have missed it for anything,' said the special man from New York. And all your appointments waiting, cried Annie Halloway's mother. Darn the appointment, said the special man from New York. He slanted his head and looked at old man Smith. We arrived, he said, just at the moment when the young lady was gazing so, so intently at the piece of shiny glass. He made a funny grunt in his throat. Let me congratulate you, Mr. Smith, he said.

Your treatment was most efficient. Your hypnosis was perfect. Your hip nothing, said old man Smith. Of course, in a case like this, said the special man from New York, the power of suggestion is always. All young folks, said old man Smith, are cases of one kind or another, and the most powerful suggestion that I can make is that somebody find Harry. Harry, said Annie Halloway's mother. Harry, why, I've got four letters at home for Annie in my desk now from some impetuous young

man who signs himself Harry. He seems to be in an architect's office in Paris. Robin is what he calls Annie. Dearest Robin. Eh, said Annie Halloway, what? Where? She sat bolt upright. She scrambled to her feet. She started for the carriage. Her mother had to run to catch her. A special man from New York followed them just as fast as he could. Old Man Smith wheeled his chair to the gate to say goodbye.

Everything seemed all mixed up. Annie Halloway's mother never stopped talking a single second. Oh, my pet, she cried, my precious, my treasure. With one foot on the carriage step, the special man from New York turned round and looked at Old Man Smith.

He smiled a funny little smile. Seek and ye shall find, he said. That is, if you only know how and where to seek. Old man Smith began to chuckle in his beard. Yes, I admit that's quite a help, he said, the knowing how and where.

But before you set out seeking very hard for anything that's lost, it's a pretty good idea to find out first just exactly what it is that you're seeking for. When a young lady's lost her mind, for instance, that's one thing. But if it's her heart that's lost, why, that, of course, is quite another. Annie Halloway's face wasn't white anymore.

It was as red as roses. She had it in her mother's shoulder. The horses began to prance. The carriage began to creak. Annie Halloway's mother looked all around.

Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, Mr. Mr. Smith, she said. How shall I ever repay you? old man smith reached out his hand across the fence there was sort of a twinkle in his eye one dollar please said old man smith end of section eight