big enough to take the cottage itself in, and leave a good margin all
round," answered Curdie.
"And what more do you see?"
"I see a tub, and a heap of musty straw, and a withered apple and a ray
of sunlight coming through a hole in the middle of the roof, and
shining
on your head, and making all the place look a curious dusky brown. I
think you had better drop it, princess, and go down to the nursery, like
a good girl."
"But don't you hear my grandmother talking to me?" asked Irene,
almost
crying.
"No. I hear the cooing of a lot of pigeons. If you won't come down, I
will go without you. I think that will be better anyhow, for I'm sure
nobody who met us would believe a word we said to them. They would
think
we made it all up. I don't expect anybody but my own father and
mother
to believe me. They _know_ I wouldn't tell a story."
Madhuri Noah
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