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“And the train for a pirate ship to sail us all away over the edge of the wild earth,” finished Charlotte A long, lohistle broke the fog into a hundred pieces “Only no one did any swapping This is Keighley, the real Keighley, and that is a real train come at last”
A deep, rhythan in the distance So deep that it seerowl up froan to tre up speed All four of their hearts rattled in ti in the world could sound like that Like a monster and a parade and a thunderstorm and a lion and the end of the world all at once Fear sizzled through their skin to the tips of their hair Fear, and a wonderful, eager, starving curiosity
Someone shouted behind theet a punishing Charlotte startled out of her trance, expecting to be scolded for standing too close to the edge Anne clutched her oldest sister’s skirts as she hadn’t done in years Emily stood fast Branwell puffed up his chest, deterhtened for at least the next minute After that, he told himself, he could crumple, if he really needed to
But they were not to be scolded The shout ca across the road to catch the train His cheeks were quite flushed and he had his collar turned up against the cold But his collar was not a collar: It was a fine, glossy page froazine, crisply creased His waistcoat was fashioned from stacks of London newspapers He had parchment for hair, pulled back into old-fashioned rolls, and a neat, sreatcoat was a special edition of the Leeds Intelligencer and his cravat was a penny dreadful folded over ed beneath his coat was the carved ebony knob of an ancient scroll Queerest of all, his enorer than the Bible itself A pair of glasses perched upon huge, decorated capital letters: two handsome Os that seemed to be his eyes, for they blinked furiously as he ran The lower parts of the pages for, blood-scarlet ribbonmark, the sort used as a bookmark in old Bibles
Branwell, Charlotte, E and small mustaches and the Lady with the hopeless hair None of the across the meadow on the other side of the platform None of them seemed in the least concerned that a hley Station with rather terrifying speed
“I say,” droned the one with the s late today”
“It will happen,” nodded the one with the big mustache and very clean teeth “From time to time”
The Magazine Man hurled hirunting like a rhinoceros as he crashed into the thing He hauled up his treht with beefy arms nized it from Papa’s subscriptions ireat effort until, at last, the impossible fellow heaved hihtily, exhausted
“Quite the kind of a weather we’re having,” said the Lady in the dull dress to neither of the azine Man lay sprawled at her feet She stepped daintily round his head
“Don’t they see hiht there” The train’sonce more
After a moment of shock in which no one breathed and everyone clutched hands as tight as murder, all four children burst out of their stillness and tumbled toward the creature They called out to him and demanded his name, his family, his business He tried to scra fearfully through the hundred thousand pages of his body But the Magazine Man was as stuck as a turtle on his back, and forced to roll wretchedly froet on his feet Once up, he towered over everyone, even the tallest of the Keighley businessmen
“Go away!” the Magazine Man shouted finally, puffing and wheezing He bent over with his paper hands on his newsprint knees “Leave me be!”
All of them spoke at once:
“Who are you?” demanded Charlotte
“Why did you clih the station like a sensible fellow?” asked Emily