XIX. MORE MAGIC IN A MIST




CHAPTER I

MAGIC IN A MIST


That morning began no differently from any morning, though it was to be
the beginning of all things new for Eric. He was awakened early by Mrs.
Freg's rough hand shaking him by the arm, and her rough voice in his
ears: "Get up, lazy-bones! _All_ you boys pile out, this very minute!
It's six o'clock already!" Then she reached over Eric and shook the
other two boys in the bed with him, repeating and repeating "Wake up,
wake up! It's six o'clock already!" When she was sure the three boys in
the bed were awake and miserable, she crossed the room with a hurried,
heavy tread and clumped, clumped down the stairs into the kitchen.

Though it happened just that way every morning, and it had happened so
this morning, this day was to be very different from any other in Eric's
life. But Eric could not know that; so he crawled farther down under the
few bedclothes he had managed to keep to himself, and shut his eyes
again just for a minute.

The night had been a cold one, and the other two boys in the bed,
because they were older and stronger, had managed to keep most of the
bedding wrapped tightly around them, while little Eric shivered on the
very edge. So he had not slept at all in the way little boys of nine