Read Online Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer - Free Book Online
Authors: Linda Buckley-Archer
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damp feet.
"I know Sheepwash Bridge. It's at Ashford-on-the-Water. My friend Megan lives there. We can telephone from her house!"
She set off at a run while Peter struggled to get his sneakers back on.
"Mistress Kate!" Gideon shouted after her. "Ashford is in that direction."
Kate turned round and started to run in the direction Gideon was indicating. She forgot her tiredness and sprang through the soft grass. Peter soon caught up with her, and after ten minutes they spotted a cluster of stone houses and a pretty bridge spanning a river.
"Look!" cried Kate. "That's Sheepwash Bridge."
They did not slow down until they were standing on the bridge, and then both of them came to an abrupt halt.
"Oh, no," said Kate in a crestfallen voice. "This can't be happening."
They were standing on cobblestones. A dirt road led from the bridge through the village of Ashford-on-the-Water that Kate thought she knew so well. Some of the mellow stone cottages seemed familiar but not much else. It was not just the absence of tarmacs, road markings, streetlamps, sidewalks, cars, and the hotel, where she had once had lunch, that was so upsetting. It was also the appearance of the villagers themselves. Kate and Peter saw an old man driving a cart and horse. White thistledown hair reached past his shoulders, and he wore a large soft-brimmed hat, filthy black coat, and knee breeches. Enormous buckles decorated his shabby shoes. Three barefooted boys in rags were teasing a cat that was backing, hissing, into a doorway. A woman in a straw bonnet and a long low-cut dress that displayed her ample bosom was carrying a basket of carrots. Soon each of the villagers had stopped what they were doing and were staring openmouthed at the strangers on the bridge. If Kate and Peter thought the villagers looked weird, the feeling was clearly mutual.
It's a film set. It has to be a film set, thought Peter, who had occasionally been allowed to see his mother at work. He looked around for the camera crew.
"We must find you some respectable clothes if you are not to make a spectacle of yourselves," said Gideon in a low voice from behind them. "Let me go ahead of you."
He pushed in front of them and bowed in turn to the woman with the carrots and the old man on the cart. "Good day to you," he said, pulling off his hat. "'Tis fine weather we are enjoying, is it not?" Peter looked down self-consciously at his T-shirt and jeans and adjusted the anorak that he had tied around his waist. The wretched cat had escaped its young tormentors while they recovered enough from their surprise to start pointing and jeering at Peter and Kate. Gideon marched through them, threatening to cuff one of them around the ear, and making as if to kick another's bottom.
"Mind your manners if you don't want to feel my boot on your behinds," he warned.
Peter waited until they'd reached the other side of the village before he asked the question that was on both children's tongues: "What is the date today, Gideon?"
"It must be the eighteenth--no, the nineteenth day of July."
"And the year?" Peter asked.
"The year?"
"Yes, the year."
"Why, the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and sixty-three."
"1763," mouthed Kate silently.
The shock of it was too much for Peter to take in, and for a moment he felt no emotion at all. Then he had a strong urge to giggle but found himself instead sinking to the ground. Kate kept repeating "1763" to herself as if to hammer the meaning home. She turned very pale and then said, "I feel a bit dizzy," and collapsed at Gideon's feet.
I WAS OVERCOME WITH WONDER AND AMAZEMENT WHEN PETER FIRST TOLD ME HE HAD COME HERE FROM THE FUTURE. THEN I SAW THE FEAR IN HIS FACE AND I REALIZED THAT HIS JOURNEY THROUGH THE CENTURIES HAD MADE HIM AN ORPHAN JUST AS SURELY AS I HAD BEEN ORPHANED BY THE FEVER.
--THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GIDEON SEYMOUR,
CUTPURSE AND GENTLEMAN, 1792
SEVEN
The Hospitality of the Honorable Mrs. Byng
In which Peter and Kate make the
"I know Sheepwash Bridge. It's at Ashford-on-the-Water. My friend Megan lives there. We can telephone from her house!"
She set off at a run while Peter struggled to get his sneakers back on.
"Mistress Kate!" Gideon shouted after her. "Ashford is in that direction."
Kate turned round and started to run in the direction Gideon was indicating. She forgot her tiredness and sprang through the soft grass. Peter soon caught up with her, and after ten minutes they spotted a cluster of stone houses and a pretty bridge spanning a river.
"Look!" cried Kate. "That's Sheepwash Bridge."
They did not slow down until they were standing on the bridge, and then both of them came to an abrupt halt.
"Oh, no," said Kate in a crestfallen voice. "This can't be happening."
They were standing on cobblestones. A dirt road led from the bridge through the village of Ashford-on-the-Water that Kate thought she knew so well. Some of the mellow stone cottages seemed familiar but not much else. It was not just the absence of tarmacs, road markings, streetlamps, sidewalks, cars, and the hotel, where she had once had lunch, that was so upsetting. It was also the appearance of the villagers themselves. Kate and Peter saw an old man driving a cart and horse. White thistledown hair reached past his shoulders, and he wore a large soft-brimmed hat, filthy black coat, and knee breeches. Enormous buckles decorated his shabby shoes. Three barefooted boys in rags were teasing a cat that was backing, hissing, into a doorway. A woman in a straw bonnet and a long low-cut dress that displayed her ample bosom was carrying a basket of carrots. Soon each of the villagers had stopped what they were doing and were staring openmouthed at the strangers on the bridge. If Kate and Peter thought the villagers looked weird, the feeling was clearly mutual.
It's a film set. It has to be a film set, thought Peter, who had occasionally been allowed to see his mother at work. He looked around for the camera crew.
"We must find you some respectable clothes if you are not to make a spectacle of yourselves," said Gideon in a low voice from behind them. "Let me go ahead of you."
He pushed in front of them and bowed in turn to the woman with the carrots and the old man on the cart. "Good day to you," he said, pulling off his hat. "'Tis fine weather we are enjoying, is it not?" Peter looked down self-consciously at his T-shirt and jeans and adjusted the anorak that he had tied around his waist. The wretched cat had escaped its young tormentors while they recovered enough from their surprise to start pointing and jeering at Peter and Kate. Gideon marched through them, threatening to cuff one of them around the ear, and making as if to kick another's bottom.
"Mind your manners if you don't want to feel my boot on your behinds," he warned.
Peter waited until they'd reached the other side of the village before he asked the question that was on both children's tongues: "What is the date today, Gideon?"
"It must be the eighteenth--no, the nineteenth day of July."
"And the year?" Peter asked.
"The year?"
"Yes, the year."
"Why, the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and sixty-three."
"1763," mouthed Kate silently.
The shock of it was too much for Peter to take in, and for a moment he felt no emotion at all. Then he had a strong urge to giggle but found himself instead sinking to the ground. Kate kept repeating "1763" to herself as if to hammer the meaning home. She turned very pale and then said, "I feel a bit dizzy," and collapsed at Gideon's feet.
I WAS OVERCOME WITH WONDER AND AMAZEMENT WHEN PETER FIRST TOLD ME HE HAD COME HERE FROM THE FUTURE. THEN I SAW THE FEAR IN HIS FACE AND I REALIZED THAT HIS JOURNEY THROUGH THE CENTURIES HAD MADE HIM AN ORPHAN JUST AS SURELY AS I HAD BEEN ORPHANED BY THE FEVER.
--THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GIDEON SEYMOUR,
CUTPURSE AND GENTLEMAN, 1792
SEVEN
The Hospitality of the Honorable Mrs. Byng
In which Peter and Kate make the
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