happen!â
âYouâd have run for your life like Dolly did,â Dad snapped, tired and cross. âEverybody levitate.â
With most of the spring-cleaning party to help, the table came loose from the Post Office wall quite quickly, in a cloud of brick dust, grass, earth, and broken bricks. But getting it back up the hill was not quick at all. It was heavy . People kept having to totter away and sit on doorsteps, exhausted. But Dad kept them all at it until they were level with the Pinhoe Arms. Uncle Simeon met them there, looking mightily relieved.
âNothing I canât rebuild,â he said cheerfully. âIt took out half the kitchen wall, along with some cabinets and the back door. Iâll get them on it next Monday. Itâll be a doddle compared with the wall down there. Thatâs going to take time, and money.â
âAh, well,â said Dad.
Uncle Arthur came limping out of the yard, leaning on a stick, with one eye bright purple-black. âThere you all are!â he said. âHelenâs going mad in here about her lunch spoiling. Come in and eat, for heavenâs sake!â
They left the table blocking the entrance to the yard, under the swinging sign of the unicorn and griffin, and flocked into the inn. There, although Aunt Helen looked unhappy, no one found anything wrong with the food. Even elegant Great-Aunt Clarice was seen to have two helpings of roast and four veg. Most people had three. And there was beer, mulled wine, and iced fruit drinkâjust what everyone felt was needed. Here at last Marianne managed to get a word with Joe.
âHow are you getting on in That Castle?â
âBoring,â said Joe. âI clean things and run errands. Mind you,â he added, with a cautious look at Joss Callowâs back, bulking at the next table, âIâve never known anywhere easier to duck out from work in. Iâve been all over the Castle by now.â
âDonât the Family mind?â Marianne asked.
âThe main ones are not there,â Joe said. âThey come back tomorrow. Housekeeper was really hacked off with me and Joss for taking today off. We told her it was our grandmotherâs funeralâor Joss did.â
With a bit of a shudder, hoping this was not an omen for poor Gammer, Marianne went on to the question she really wanted to ask. âAnd thechildren? Theyâre all enchanters too, arenât they?â
âOne of them is,â Joe said. âStaff donât like it. They say itâs not natural in a young lad. But the rest of them are just plain witches like us, from what they say. Are you going for more roast? Fetch me another lot, too, will you?â
Eating and drinking went on a long time, until nearly sunset. It was quite late when a cheery party of uncles and cousins took the table back to Woods House, to shove it in through the broken kitchen wall and patch up the damage until Monday. A second party roistered off down the hill to tidy up the bricks there.
Everyone clean forgot about the attics.
Chapter Four
O n the way back from the south of France, Chrestomanciâs daughter, Julia, bought a book to read on the train, called A Pony Of My Own . Halfway through France, Chrestomanciâs ward, Janet, snatched the book off Julia and read it too. After that, neither of them could talk about anything but horses. Juliaâs brother, Roger, yawned. Cat, who was younger than any of them, tried not to listen and hoped they would get tired of the subject soon.
But the horse fever grew. By the time they were on the crossâChannel ferry, Julia and Janet had decided that both of them would die unless they had a horse each the moment they got home to the Castle.
âWeâve only got six weeks until we start lessons again,â Julia sighed. âIt has to be at once , or weâll miss all the gymkhanas.â
âIt would be a complete waste of the summer,â Janet agreed.