Brother Dusty-Feet Read Online Free PDF

and explained about Aunt Alison meaning to have Argos knocked on the head, and how they had run away together and were travelling to Oxford to seek their fortunes. When he had finished, there was another silence, and Hugh was sickeningly afraid that they were going to turn him away; so afraid that his mouth went quite dry, and he could only stand and gaze at them, with his face growing whiter and whiter under the brown.
    ‘Well,’ said the leader at last, ‘do we take him, lads?’
    ‘Yes,’ said everybody, and ‘might as well,’ they added.
    ‘Of course we take him,’ said the Fifth Man.
    So the leader bowed low to Hugh, doffing his bonnet with a flourish that was simply superb, and laying his other hand upon his breast. ‘Then, Hugh Copplestone, I have the honour to inform you that your fortune is as good as made! You have fallen into the hands of those who are the masters of their art, the – er – shining lights of their glorious profession; and ere long, with due care and attention, you shall be a master of it likewise! Why, before you can turn round, you will find yourself playing St Cecilia before Gloriana herself, as she sits on her golden throne in Greenwich Palace!’
    The boy they called Nicky said admiringly, ‘What a liar you are, Toby.’
    And quite suddenly, what with hunger and bewilderment and relief – but mostly with hunger – Hugh found that the world was spinning round him in the most uncomfortable way. He swayed a little on his feet, and smiled a sickly sort of smile, and the Fifth Man, who had been looking at him closely, put out a hand quickly to steady him, and said, ‘You haven’t had anything to eat lately, have you, Brother Dusty-Feet?’
    Hugh shook his head carefully, and found that the world was not going round as fast as it had been, which was a relief. ‘Argos too. I’ve got a three-farthing bit,’ he mumbled.
    ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ said the leader, cheerfully. ‘Jonathan, take the gentlemen in and regale them on fatted calves, while we get loaded up and bring Saffronilla round.’
    So the Fifth Man marched Hugh, who was still a little unsteady on his legs, into the dark inn parlour, where a round young woman like a ripe pippin gave him a large plate of pink ham and brown bread, while Argos had a bowl of the most delicious-looking scraps all to himself on the floor, and the periwinkle shared the window-sill with a pot of marigolds that belonged there.
    The Fifth Man sat quietly watching, while Hugh ate until he began to be gloriously full and the world was quite steady again; then he asked, ‘Why were you going to Oxford, Brother Dusty-Feet?’
    And Hugh told him about the New Learning, and Magdalen Tower, and all the things his father had told
him
, which he hadn’t spoken about to anyone since his father died.
    And the Fifth Man listened to him, with his head a little bent as though he was very interested indeed. Then he said, ‘We’re not going to Oxford, you know.’ Hugh shook his head and went on eating; and the Fifth Man said, ‘And you mustn’t believe what Toby says; we’re not a Queen’s Company. We’re ordinary Strolling Players, acting our plays in inn-yards up and down the country; and when times are good we eat as much as we want, and when times are bad we go hungry and sleep in the ditch. Do you still want to come with us?’
    Hugh looked up, and found the Fifth Man smiling at him so that all his thin face quirked upwards at the outer corners, in a winged sort of way; and all at once Hugh felt that he would follow the Fifth Man over the edge of the world. ‘Yes!’ said Hugh.
    So when Hugh had finished the ham they went out together into the sunlight. And there before thedoor was a very small tilt-cart with the ends of several planks sticking out behind, and a dappled mare half asleep in the shafts. It was a nice tilt-cart, rather rickety, but bravely scarlet, picked out with yellow; and the green canvas tilt was patched with blue so