Milly Molly Mandy and Billy Blunt

by Joyce Lankester Brisley

  But then Milly-Molly-Mandy had a bright idea.

  “Couldn’t we get Mr Jakes a proper card between us, and post it to him? We needn’t sign it.”

  They all counted their pennies, and then they went to look at Miss Muggins’ greeting cards. The prettiest said, “To my Husband” – but Mr Jakes might think Mrs Jakes had sent it! Another (cheaper) said, “To my Friend”. And they decided on that.

  Billy Blunt wrote the name and address with his pen, and they bought a real stamp, and posted the card in the letter-box (though Mr Jakes lived only next door).

  And then Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan ran home.

  Well! – you can guess how pleased and surprised Mr Jakes the postman was to have to deliver such a nice card to himself ! But, actually, it was Miss Crisp the postmistress who found Billy Blunt’s little package. And she saw it was just a bit of nonsense, and threw it away!

  4

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes Excavating

  Once upon a time, as Milly-Molly-Mandy was going into school, she noticed a number of young men come striding along from the crossroads and up Hooker’s Hill. They were carrying spades and pickaxes and things, but somehow they didn’t look like men who were mending the roads.

  “I wonder what they’re going to do,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “They’re going to do excavating,” said Billy Blunt. “I heard my dad talking about it. They’ve got permission.”

  “What’s excavating?”

  “Digging up old things,” said Billy Blunt.

  “Like buried treasure? That sort of thing? How do they know where to do it?”

  “They guess,” said Billy Blunt. “They guess ancient Britons might have lived up there once. They just want to find out.”

  It sounded rather exciting. Milly-Molly-Mandy wished she could go digging instead of just going to school!

  Next Saturday morning she took Toby the dog for a walk down to the village, rather hoping to hear more about the excavating. As she passed the corn-shop she saw Billy Blunt hanging over the side-gate.

  “Hullo!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “What are you doing?”

  Billy Blunt didn’t answer. (Anyone could see he was doing nothing.) But after a moment he said:

  “Want to see something?”

  Of course Milly-Molly-Mandy said Yes, at once.

  And Billy Blunt drew his hand slowly out of his pocket and opened it. There was a flat, round thing in it, streaked brown and green.

  “What d’you make of that?” he asked.

  “What is it? Is it money? Where did you find it?”

  “I excavated it.”

  “You didn’t! Where?”

  “In our garden. By the bonfire heap. I was just digging a bit, to see if there might be anything – you never know – and I dug this up.”

  “It must be ancient!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Have you shown it to anybody?”

  “Not yet.” Billy Blunt rubbed it carefully with his handkerchief. “Mother’s busy, and Dad’s got customers.”

  “Let’s show it to Mr Rudge!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “He knows about iron and such things; he’ll know if it’s valuable.”

  So they went along to the forge, where the blacksmith was blowing up his fire.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy peeped in the doorway.

  “Mr Rudge! Billy Blunt’s excavated something!” she told him; “and we want to know if you think it’s very valuable!”

  The blacksmith looked round with a twinkle in his eye. He held out one great grimy hand, working the bellows with the other, and Billy Blunt put the precious coin into it.

  Mr Rudge examined it one side, then the other. Then he rubbed it on his big leather apron and looked again.

  “Hmmm,” he said solemnly. “Georgian, I’d say. Yes. Undoubtedly.”

  “Is that very ancient?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “What’s it worth?” asked Billy Blunt.

  “If you’re asking me, don’t you take a ha’penny less than a penny for it. But mind you,” he added, “if it’s treasure-trove it may belong to the Crown.”

  He gave the coin back and turned again to his fire. Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy came out into the sunshine, looking to see what all that rubbing had done.

  “Looks like there’s a head –” said Billy Blunt; “can’t see any date.”

  “What’s treasure-trove mean?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Dunno. P’raps if you dig up treasure you aren’t supposed to keep it.”

  Then Milly-Molly-Mandy had an idea.

  “If you dug this out of your garden maybe there’s some more there! Can’t you go excavating again? I’ll help.”

  So they went back to the Blunts’ garden, beside the corn-shop, and Billy Blunt led the way round the rhubarb-bed to the end by the rubbish-heap and the bonfire.

  He picked up a trowel and handed Milly-Molly-Mandy a rusty knife to dig with, and they began jabbing about in the earth and weeds. But there didn’t seem to be anything else but stones. (Plenty of them.)

  Presently Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

  “It’s awfully hard under here – feels like rock.”

  “Where?” said Billy Blunt. He came over and used his trowel. “Looks like cement—”

  “IT’S AWFULLY HARD UNDER HERE . . .”

  “Perhaps it’s buried treasure cemented in!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Fetch a spade out of the shed there,” ordered Billy Blunt. “Hurry!”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy ran and fetched him a spade, and she took over the trowel. And they could see there was something, underneath the earth and weeds!

  “It’s got an iron lid!” panted Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “It’s an iron chest, cemented down!” puffed Billy Blunt.

  They got the top scraped clear. It was square and rusty, with a kind of loop to lift it by.

  “This is buried treasure all right!”

  Billy Blunt was red with excitement.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy wanted to jump and shout, but she was too busy.

  The lid was awfully heavy. They tried to lever it up, but they couldn’t.

  “You’ll have to tell your father and mother, won’t you?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, at last.

  Billy Blunt dropped the spade and dashed indoors. And presently Mr Blunt came out, in his apron, and walked over to their hole.

  He took one look.

  “That?” he said. “What-ever will you be up to next? That’s only the cover of the drain!” When he could stop laughing he added, “Just as well you unearthed it, though – there might have been trouble if the authorities knew it had got covered over. Don’t know how it happened—”

  “But look, Dad. I found this –” Billy Blunt showed his piece of money. “We thought there might be some more. It’s quite ancient, isn’t it? The blacksmith said Georgian—”

  Mr Blunt scraped with his pocket knife a moment. Then he fished a few coins from his trousers’ pocket, picked out a penny and handed it over with the other. “There’s your same Georgian coin,” he chuckled, “King George V – only a bit cleaner. Yours looks as if it’s been on the bonfire!”

  Well! It was all very disappointing. But anyhow, those two pennies bought two fine peppermint humbugs from Miss Muggins’ shop. And, sucking away together, Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy both agreed it had really been quite fun while it lasted.

  But they hoped the excavators up on Hooker’s Hill were having better luck!

  5

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Has an Adventure

  Once upon a time, one Saturday afternoon, Milly-Molly-Mandy had quite an adventure.

  There was a special children’s film showing at the cinema in the next village, and Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan were going to it, by bus, quite by themselves!

  “Keep together, and don’t talk to strangers,” said Mother, giving Milly-Molly-Mandy the money for the cinema and for the bus, there and back.

  “But supposing strangers speak to us
?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Always answer politely,” said Mother, “but no more than that.”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy set off from the nice white cottage with the thatched roof, down the road with the hedges each side to the Moggs’ cottage where little-friend-Susan was waiting for her. And they walked on together to the cross-roads, feeling very important, to catch the bus.

  There was plenty of time, but they thought they had better run the last part of the way, to be on the safe side. But nobody was waiting at the crossroads, so they wondered if they had missed the bus after all.

  Then one or two people came up and waited, so it couldn’t have gone. And presently it came in sight.

  And just as everybody was getting on who do you suppose came along and got on too? – Why, Billy Blunt!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan took their seats and paid their half-fares, and pocketed the change carefully (three pennies for Milly-Molly-Mandy, a threepenny piece for little-friend-Susan). And then they sat looking out of the windows to make sure they didn’t get carried past the cinema.

  Billy Blunt had made for a seat right in front, looking as if he were quite used to doing this sort of thing by himself. (But he couldn’t have been, really!) He managed to be first to get off the moment the bus stopped, so they didn’t actually see if he went into the cinema.

  Inside, it was so dark you couldn’t recognize anybody. Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan held hands tight, not to lose one another.

  It was all very exciting.

  And so was the film. They wished it needn’t end. When it was all over it seemed funny to come out into daylight again and find the same ordinary world outside.

  They saw Billy Blunt coming away, talking with another boy. So they walked straight to the bus-stop and began waiting. (The bus ran every hour, and if one had just gone they might be a long time getting home.)

  Suddenly little-friend-Susan said loudly, “My money!” and began rummaging in her coat-pocket.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Why? Where?” and began rummaging in her own. (But her three pennies were safe all right.)

  “My threepenny piece!” said little-friend-Susan; “I had it here . . .”

  She looked in her right-hand pocket, then in her left, then in her hands. Then Milly-Molly-Mandy looked.

  Then they looked on the pavement, and in the gutter.

  “You must have dropped it in the cinema, Susan,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Let’s go back and ask.”

  “But I didn’t,” said little-friend-Susan. “I felt it in my pocket as we came out.”

  So they looked all along the pavement. But still they couldn’t find it.

  “Well, we’ve just got to walk home,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, at last. “You can’t go by yourself. We’ll have to walk together.”

  “It’s too far to walk,” said little-friend-Susan, nearly crying.

  Just then Billy Blunt came up to join the queue. Milly-Molly-Mandy said to him, “She’s lost her money!”

  “SHE’S LOST HER MONEY!”

  Billy Blunt didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing.

  A gipsy woman standing near with a baby and big basket said, “There now! Lost your money, have you, ducks?”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said again, “We’ve got to walk home.”

  Billy Blunt said, “It’s too far.” Then he said, “Here, have mine. I’ll manage.”

  But Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan said together, “You can’t walk that far all by yourself!”

  The gipsy woman began fumbling under her apron for her purse.

  “I may have just a spare copper or two—” she said. “Where does the little lady live? I’ll call on her ma, and she can pay me back some day!”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy, remembering what Mother had said, answered politely, “No, thank you very much!” – when at that moment the bus came in sight.

  “Here!” said Billy Blunt, holding out his money.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan didn’t like to take it. They couldn’t think what to do.

  An old truck laden with empty cans and things was coming rattling down the road. It overtook the bus and was just clattering past the bus-stop when Milly-Molly-Mandy suddenly started waving her arms wildly at it.

  “Cyril, stop! Cyril!” she shouted.

  The truck slowed down, and a tousled head looked back from the driver’s seat.

  “It’s Cyril!” Milly-Molly-Mandy told the others, excitedly. “He drives things to the station for Uncle sometimes!” She ran forward. “Oh, Cyril! May I ride home with you?” she asked.

  “You may not,” said Cyril. “In that get-up? – I’d have your ma after me. Anyhow, I’m not going by your house today – only to the cross-roads.”

  Little-friend-Susan pulled at Milly-Molly-Mandy’s sleeve.

  “But, Milly-Molly-Mandy! You know we’ve got to keep together!”

  The bus was drawing up. People were beginning to get on.

  Billy Blunt asked Cyril quickly, “Can you take me?”

  “If you want,” said Cyril. “But hop on quick.”

  The bus was tooting for him to get out of the way.

  Billy Blunt pushed his money at little-friend-Susan, saying, “Go on – hurry!” Then he clambered into the truck beside Cyril, helped by Cyril’s very grubby hand, and off they went rattling down the road.

  “Now then, you two!” the bus-driver called out of his small side-window, “are you coming with us or aren’t you? We haven’t got all day, you know.”

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan (full of smiles) rushed to scramble on to the bus. And off they went, after the truck, down the road, and along the winding leafy lanes.

  Billy Blunt was waiting at the cross-roads to see them arrive. He looked quite pleased with himself! (He had an oily smear down one leg, and his hands were black.)

  “I got here quicker than you did,” was all he said, when they thanked him.

  And – do you know! – that threepenny piece of little-friend-Susan’s was found, after all!

  It had worked through a small hole in her coat-pocket down into the lining. And she was able to work it out again and pay Billy Blunt back the next day.

  6

  Milly-Molly-Mandy on Bank Holiday

  Once upon a time, one fine day, Milly-Molly-Mandy couldn’t think what to do with herself.

  It felt as if something specially nice should be done, as it was a Bank Holiday. But Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty all said they were busy, and everywhere would be so crowded today, and they preferred to stay at home.

  “Why not go and play with little-friend-Susan?” said Mother, getting out jam-pots ready for jam-making.

  “Get yourself some sweets, if the shop’s open,” said Father, feeling in his trousers’ pocket.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy called to Toby the dog and wandered down the road with the hedges each side, to the Moggs’ cottage.

  Little-friend-Susan was outside, minding her baby sister.

  They both had clean frocks and their hats on.

  “Hullo, Milly-Molly-Mandy!” said little-friend-Susan. “It’s Bank Holiday today. Father’s going take us all out on the red bus. I wish you were coming too!”

  So did Milly-Molly-Mandy. But as she wasn’t she called to Toby the dog and wander on down to the village.

  Miss Muggins’ shop had its blind half-down over the toys and sweets in the window. But Milly-Molly-Mandy tried the handle, just in case, and Miss Muggins’ Jilly peeped through the collarettes and gloves hanging across the glass of the door.

  When she saw who was there Miss Muggins’ Jilly stooped and said through the letter-box slit:

  “We aren’t open today, Milly-Molly-Mandy. It’s Bank Holiday. My aunty’s taking me to my granny’s, by the red bus.”

  (Toby the dog was so surprised at a voice coming from the letter-box that he barked and barked!)

  But next moment the door was un
locked, and Miss Muggins’ Jilly (in her best white hat) stepped outside, followed by Miss Muggins herself (in her best black).

  As she locked the door behind her and put the key in her bag Miss Muggins said:

  “Good morning, Milly-Molly-Mandy. Now we mustn’t delay, or we shall miss the bus.”

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy, holding Toby the dog, watched them go hurrying down to the cross-roads, where several people were standing waiting.

  The red bus arrived just as Mr Moggs, carrying the baby, and Mrs Moggs, with little-friend-Susan, came running and waving by the short-cut across the fields, only just in time. Everybody scrambled aboard; the bus gave a “ping!” and off they all went, away into the distance.

  And you wouldn’t believe how empty the village felt!

  There was only Mr Smale the grocer (in his shirtsleeves) reading a newspaper at his doorway, and Milly-Molly-Mandy standing with Toby the dog, wondering what to do next.

  “HULLO!” HE SAID, GRINNING

  There didn’t seem to be anything.

  Then, round the corner by the forge, who should come along but Billy Blunt, carrying an old rusty tea-tray under his arm!

  “Hullo!” he said, grinning.

  “Hullo!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, rather dolefully. “It’s Bank Holiday today.”

  “I know,” said Billy Blunt. “And I mean to have one. You can come along if you want.”

  “Where to?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy. “What are you going to do? What’s that thing?”

  “It’s a tea-tray,” said Billy Blunt. “I found it on Mr Rudge’s junk-heap. I shall put it back when I’ve done. Come on if you’re coming.”

  So, feeling very curious, Milly-Molly-Mandy and Toby the dog followed him.

  They walked to the cross-roads, then up the steep hilly road beyond. Presently they climbed a low fence and through a lot of brambles and things, till they came out on a high meadow looking down on the village.