‘Derri, you are makin’ that up,’ said Bess suspiciously. ‘Such wonders don’t happen, not even in Aylfenhame.’
Derritharn smiled up at Bess. ‘It is as true as that I stand here.’
‘I’ll be needin’ a bit more’n a magic shoe-tree to make a life for meself.’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Derri. ‘But it would be a fine start.’
Bessie had no further comments to make, being outfaced by the sheer absurdity of Derritharn’s arguments. She left Grunewald to his agitated pacing and Derri to improve her friendships with the brownies of Somerdale, and wandered into the garden. The time of year was not conducive to any impressive display of verdure, but she welcomed the solitude, and revelled in the unaccustomed freedom to wander in the garden in the middle of the morning. At this hour, only a day previously, she w
