I only hope you come by it honest, he said, shrugging his shoulders. He scratched his ear again.
Well! he said, I suppose I must let you have it, but its worth thribble the money, so it is
He slowly led the way out to the hutchopened the door gingerly, and made a sudden fierce grab at the Psammead, which the Psammead acknowledged in one last long lingering bite.
Here, take the brute, said the shopman, squeezing the Psammead so tight that he nearly choked it. Its bit me to the marrow, it have.
The mans eyes opened as Anthea held out her arms.
Dont blame me if it tears your face off its bones, he said, and the Psammead made a leap from his dirty horny hands, and Anthea caught it in hers, which were not very clean, certainly, but at any rate were soft and pink, and held it kindly and closely.
But you cant take it home like that, Cyril said, we shall have a crowd after us, and indeed two errand boys and a policeman had already collected.
I cant give you nothink only a paper-bag, like what we put the tortoises in, said the man grudgingly.
So the whole party went into the shop, and the shopmans eyes nearly came out of his head when, having given Anthea the largest paper-bag he could find, he saw her hold it open, and the Psammead carefully creep into it. Well! he said, if that there dont beat cockfighting! But praps youve met the brute afore.
Yes, said Cyril affably, hes an old friend of ours.
If Id a known that, the man rejoined, you shouldnt a had him under twice the money. Owever, he added, as the children disappeared, I aint done so bad, seeing as I only give five bob for the beast. But then theres the bites to take into account!
The children trembling in agitation and excitement, carried home the Psammead, trembling in its paper-bag.
When they got it home, Anthea nursed it, and stroked it, and would have cried over it, if she hadnt remembered how it hated to be wet.
When it recovered enough to speak, it said
Get me sand; silver sand from the oil and colour shop. And get me plenty.
They got the sand, and they put it and the Psammead in the round bath together, and it rubbed itself, and rolled itself, and shook itself and scraped itself, and scratched itself, and preened itself, till it felt clean and comfy, and then it scrabbled a hasty hole in the sand, and went to sleep in it.
The children hid the bath under the girls bed, and had supper. Old Nurse had got them a lovely supper of bread and butter and fried onions. She was full of kind and delicate thoughts.
When Anthea woke the next morning, the Psammead was snuggling down between her shoulder and Janes.
You have saved my life, it said. I know that man would have thrown cold water on me sooner or later, and then I should have died. I saw him wash out a guinea-pigs hutch yesterday morning. Im still frightfully sleepy, I think Ill go back to sand for another nap. Wake the boys and this dormouse of a Jane, and when youve had your breakfasts well have a talk.
Dont YOU want any breakfast? asked Anthea.
I daresay I shall pick a bit presently, it said; but sand is all I care aboutits meat and drink to me, and coals and fire and wife and children. With these words it clambered down by the bedclothes and scrambled back into the bath, where they heard it scratching itself out of sight.
Well! said Anthea, anyhow our holidays wont be dull NOW. Weve found the Psammead again.
No, said Jane, beginning to put on her stockings. We shant be dullbut itll be only like having a pet dog now it cant give us wishes.
Oh, dont be so discontented, said Anthea. If it cant do anything else it can tell us about Megatheriums and things.
CHAPTER 2. THE HALF AMULET
Long agothat is to say last summerthe children, finding themselves embarrassed by some wish which the Psammead had granted them, and which the servants had not received in a proper spirit, had wished that the servants might not notice the gifts which the Psammead gave. And when they parted from the Psammead their last wish had been that they should meet it again. Therefore they HAD met it (and it was jolly lucky for the Psammead, as Robert pointed out). Now, of course, you see that the Psammeads being where it was, was the consequence of one of their wishes, and therefore was a Psammead-wish, and as such could not be noticed by the servants. And it was soon plain that in the Psammeads opinion old Nurse was still a servant, although she had now a house of her own, for she never noticed the Psammead at all. And that was as well, for she would never have consented to allow the girls to keep an animal and a bath of sand under their bed.
When breakfast had been cleared awayit was a very nice breakfast with hot rolls to it, a luxury quite out of the common wayAnthea went and dragged out the bath, and woke the Psammead.
It stretched and shook itself.
You must have bolted your breakfast most unwholesomely, it said, you cant have been five minutes over it.
Weve been nearly an hour, said Anthea. Comeyou know you promised.
Now look here, said the Psammead, sitting back on the sand and shooting out its long eyes suddenly, wed better begin as we mean to go on. It wont do to have any misunderstanding, so I tell you plainly that
Oh, PLEASE, Anthea pleaded, do wait till we get to the others. Theyll think it most awfully sneakish of me to talk to you without them; do come down, theres a dear.
She knelt before the sand-bath and held out her arms. The Psammead must have remembered how glad it had been to jump into those same little arms only the day before, for it gave a little grudging grunt, and jumped once more.
Anthea wrapped it in her pinafore and carried it downstairs. It was welcomed in a thrilling silence. At last Anthea said, Now then!
What place is this? asked the Psammead, shooting its eyes out and turning them slowly round.
Its a sitting-room, of course, said Robert.
Then I dont like it, said the Psammead.
Never mind, said Anthea kindly; well take you anywhere you like if you want us to. What was it you were going to say upstairs when I said the others wouldnt like it if I stayed talking to you without them?
It looked keenly at her, and she blushed.
Dont be silly, it said sharply. Of course, its quite natural that you should like your brothers and sisters to know exactly how good and unselfish you were.
I wish you wouldnt, said Jane. Anthea was quite right. What was it you were going to say when she stopped you?
Ill tell you, said the Psammead, since youre so anxious to know. I was going to say this. Youve saved my lifeand Im not ungratefulbut it doesnt change your nature or mine. Youre still very ignorant, and rather silly, and I am worth a thousand of you any day of the week.
Of course you are! Anthea was beginning but it interrupted her.
Its very rude to interrupt, it said; what I mean is that Im not going to stand any nonsense, and if you think what youve done is to give you the right to pet me or make me demean myself by playing with you, youll find out that what you think doesnt matter a single penny. See? Its what I think that matters.
I know, said Cyril, it always was, if you remember.