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. Your son isn t even here - so what business is it of his to tell you to give ordersto visitors?Tears suddenly began to pour down the old woman s face and she wrung herbony hands together. He ll hit me, she wept. He ll twist my arm! Go away! Dogo away! If he comes, he ll chase you off.He s a bad man, my son is! She s mad, poor old thing, said Toby, feeling sorry for old Mrs Janes. Ourcook often says so, though she s harmless enough.Her son s not too bad - he squite handy at repairs, and we used to have him come to the farm to mendroofs and things like that.But he s not so good as he used to be.Come on -let s go.Mr Gringle s a bit queer, too, isn t he?They went off after the two girls, Julian still feeling uncomfortable anddistressed.43 What s Mr Gringle s friend like - the one who helps him? asked Julian. I don t know.I ve never seen him, said Toby. He s away mostly, doing thebusiness side, I think - selling specimens of eggs, caterpillars and so on - andthe perfect moths and butterflies, too, of course. I d like to see that Butterfly House again, but Mr Gringle gets on my nerves,said Dick. Those brilliant eyes behind those thick glasses.You d think that ifthey were as bright and piercing as that he wouldn t need to wear any glassesat all! Hey, George - Anne! shouted Julian. Wait for us - we re just coming. Theycaught up the girls and Julian grinned at George. You thought old Timmy was going to be changed into a black beetle orsomething, didn t you? he said. No, of course not, said George, going red. I just didn t like her very much -pointing her finger like that at Timmy.No wonder he growled. You didn t hear what she said about her son, said Dick. She began to cry likeanything after you d gone, and say that her son would beat her and twist herarm if we didn t go - and he s not even there! She s mad, said George. I don t want to go there again.What are we going todo now? Go up to our camping-place and have our lunch, said Julian promptly. Comewith us, Toby - or have you got jobs to do at the farm? No.I ve done them all, said Toby. I d love to have a meal with you up on thehill.44It wasn t very long before they were back at their camping-place.Everythingwas as they had left it - macs neatly under the gorse bush with the rugs andother little things - and the food in Anne s  larder waiting for them.The meal was very hilarious, as Toby was in one of his silly moods, andproduced some idiotic jokes.The most successful one was a large imitationspider with shaky legs, which, while Anne and George had gone to get the food,he hung by a thin nylon thread to a spray on the nearby gorse bush.Dickgrinned broadly. Wait till Anne sees that! he said. George always says she doesn t mindspiders, but a big one like that is distinctly creepy.It certainly was.Anne didn t spot it until she was eating her strawberries,covered with some of the cream that Toby s mother had generously sent.Thenshe suddenly spied it, shaking slightly in the breeze, hanging by its thread justover George s head. Ooooooooh! she squealed. Ooooh, George - be careful! There s a MONSTERspider just over your head! What - is George scared of spiders? cried Toby at once. Just like a girl!George glared at him. I don t mind them at all, she said coldly. I m glad you aren t scared of them, said Toby. I d have to call you Georgina ifyou were.That s your right name, isn t it? George - do move! cried Anne, upsetting her strawberries in her anxiety. It salmost on your head, I tell you - its legs are wobbling as if they are going to45settle on your hair.George, it s an ENORMOUS one! It might even be one ofthose foreign things - a tarantula or something!The wind blew a little just then and the spider moved about on the thread mostrealistically.Even Dick was glad it wasn t alive!George couldn t resist looking up, pretending to be quite unmoved - but whenshe saw the enormous creature just above her she shot straight out of her placeand landed on Toby s legs, making him spill his strawberries and cream. Now, now, Georgina, said the annoying Toby, picking up his strawberries. Yousaid you didn t mind spiders.I ll remove it for you, and you can go back to yourplace. No, no - don t touch it - ugh! cried Anne.But Toby, putting on a very braveface, leaned over and neatly took the spider off the gorse-bush, still swinging byits thread.He swung it near to Anne, who scrambled up at once,Then he made it  walk over Dick s knee, and Timmy came to investigate atonce.Binky came too, and snapped at it, breaking the nylon thread that held it. Ass! said Toby, giving him a smack [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]