The Willows and Beyond Read Online Free PDF Page A

all of them had difficulty at times being understood by him, except Grandson, who lived with him now He had developed the knack of raising his voice without losing his intonation, in such a way that the Badger understood everything he said.
    Nor was the Otter quite the animal he had been, for he swam more slowly than before, and his sight under water was not at all what it had been. Why, these days, Portly — now no longer quite as tubby as he had been when he gained his nickname — was better at catching fish than his own father!
    Of them all perhaps the Mole seemed least affected by age, though he suffered aches and pains most mornings, and those injuries he had sustained some years previously at the jaws of the Lathbury Pike, when only his courage against that lethal foe had saved the Rat’s life, gave him trouble when atmospheric pressure rose and the wind veered to the north and turned chill.
    It will all work out for the best in the end, Toad,” the Mole had said at the end of their discussion.
    “I hope so,” said Toad, “but meanwhile I have arranged for a motor-car manned with some reliable former constables to meet Master Toad off the boat and ensure he comes straight home without a repetition of what happened last time.”
    “You mean when he came to Toad Hall from Dover by way of a spot of motor-cycle racing on the isle of Man?”
    “There will be no repeat of that kind of thing when he comes home this time!” said Toad. “None whatsoever!”
    “No, Toad,” said the Mole.
    “And what is more he will work at his school books in my study every day till three o’clock in the afternoon, after which I shall take him out myself for some light educational exercise and then pack him off early to bed.”
    “Yes, Toad.”
    So it was that in this startling way, and in a very much shorter period than it had taken the combined efforts of the Badger, Rat, Otter and Mole, working on the same project and achieving something little better than complete failure, Master Toad’s presence on the River Bank had reformed Toad into a responsible, care-worn pater, much like any other. One, indeed, no longer capable of leaping aboard his own craft and guiding them all to the Town in the wild and irresponsible way that had always been his wont; but rather, one who must stay at home and fret and worry.

    “I rather miss the old Toad,” observed the Mole that same day as he, the Rat and Nephew left Toad’s estate behind and headed towards the Town in the motor-launch.
    “Do you know, old chap, now you mention it, I believe I do myself” confided the Rat. “I would rather like to see Toad getting up to his old tricks one last time!”
    “Just what I was trying to say!” cried the Mole, quite forgetting that Nephew was there and ought not to hear such things. “Why, in his younger days he was capable of pranks very much worse than any Master Toad has ever got up to —far worse, now I come to think of it.”
    “Do you remember that time he stole a motor-car?” The Rat might very well have continued with this oft-told tale, but they were at that part of the journey when the River ran quite close to the new road lately opened up between the Town and the River Bank, and his voice was suddenly drowned out by the rapid passage of a motor-car, horns blaring, accompanied by a loud, braying laughter that sounded dreadfully familiar.
    “Toad?” whispered the Mole, as if he had heard a ghost.
    “Toad?” gasped the Rat, as if he had seen one.
    “Master Toad,” observed Nephew matter-of-factly, “probably.”
    “But —” began the Mole, standing on tiptoe to catch a glimpse of the motor-car as it rushed by, “but Toad quite specifically arranged —“
    “Think no more of it. Say nothing more of it. Do nothing about it,” said the Rat. “We are about important business and cannot, must not, be diverted from our purpose. Nephew, stop trying to see that motor-car, the road is out of view from here and it will have