Read The Borrowers Afloat for Free Online Page A

longer you'll be able to wait...."
    "Stands to reason," said Lupy.
    "And," Pod went on, "the fewer mouths you have to feed, the farther the food will stretch."
    "That's right," agreed Hendreary.
    "Now," went on Pod, "say there are six of you..."
    "Nine," said Hendreary, looking round the table, "to be exact."
    "You don't count us," said Pod. "Homily, Arrietty, and me—we're moving out." There was a stunned silence round the table as Pod, very calm, turned to Homily. "That's right, isn't it?" he asked her.
    Homily stared back at him as though he were crazy, and, in despair, he nudged her with his foot. At that she swallowed hastily and began to nod her head. "That's right..." she managed to stammer, blinking her eye-lids.
    Then pandemonium broke out: questions, suggestions, protestations, and arguments.... "You don't know what you're saying, Pod," Hendreary kept repeating, and Lupy kept on asking, "Moving out where to?"
    "No good being hasty, Pod," Hendreary said at last. "The choice of course is yours. But we're all in this together, and for as long as it lasts"—he glanced around the table as though putting the words on record—"and such as it is, what is ours is yours."
    "That's very kind of you, Hendreary," said Pod.
    "Not at all," said Hendreary, speaking rather too smoothly, "it stands to reason."
    "It's only human," put in Lupy: she was very fond of this word.
    "But," went on Hendreary, as Pod remained silent, "I see you've made up your mind."
    "That's right," said Pod.
    "In which case," said Hendreary, "there's nothing we can do but adjourn the meeting and wish you all good luck!"
    "That's right," said Pod.
    "Good luck, Pod," said Hendreary.
    "Thanks, Hendreary," said Pod.
    "And to all three valiant souls—Pod, Homily, and little Arrietty—good luck and good borrowing!"
    Homily murmured something and then there was silence: an awkward silence while eyes avoided eyes. "Come on, me old girl," said Pod at last, and turning to Homily, he helped her to her feet. "If you'll excuse us," he said to Lupy, who had become rather red in the face again, "we got one or two plans to discuss."
    They all rose, and Hendreary, looking worried, followed Pod to the door. "When do you think of leaving, Pod?"
    "In a day or two's time," said Pod, "when the coast's clear down below."
    "No hurry, you know," said Hendreary. "And any tackle you want—"
    "Thanks," said Pod.
    "...just say the word."
    "I will," said Pod. He gave a half-smile, rather shy, and went on through the door.

Chapter Six
    Homily went up the laths without speaking; she went straight to the inner room and sat down on the bed. She sat there shivering slightly and staring at her hands.
    "I had to say it," said Pod, "and we have to do it, what's more."
    Homily nodded.
    "You see how we're placed?" said Pod.
    Homily nodded again.
    "Any suggestions?" said Pod. "Anything else we could do?"
    "No," said Homily, "we've got to go. And what's more," she added, "we'd have had to anyway."
    "How do you make that out?" said Pod.
    "I wouldn't stay here with Lupy," declared Homily, "not if she bribed me with molten gold, which she isn't likely to. I kept quiet, Pod, for the child's sake. A bit of young company, I thought, and a family background. I even kept quiet about the furniture...."
    "Yes, you did," said Pod.
    "It's only—" said Homily, and again she began to shiver, "that he went on so about the vermin...."
    "Yes, he did go on," said Pod.
    "Better a place of our own," said Homily.
    "Yes," agreed Pod, "better a place of our own..." But he gazed round the room in a hunted kind of way, and his flat round face looked blank.

    When Arrietty arrived upstairs with Timmus, she looked both scared and elated.
    "Oh," said Homily, "here you are." And she stared rather blankly at Timmus.
    "He would come," Arrietty told her, holding him tight by the hand.
    "Well, take him along to your room. And tell him a story or something...."
    "AH right. I will in a minute. But, first, I just wanted to ask