The House of Arden · Chapter
Guy Fawkes explained
After a three-day quarrel, Elfrida and Edred explore Arden Castle, attempting to draw it and reading its history.
What happens
After a three-day quarrel, Elfrida and Edred explore Arden Castle, attempting to draw it and reading its history. They dress in Jacobean costumes and use the Brownie camera to travel back in time to the early 1600s. Edred attends a royal entertainment at Whitehall, while Elfrida is left with an old nurse and meets her Cousin Dick, with whom she plans to play ball.
Themes in this chapter
Magic and Adventure
The children use the Brownie camera and white feather magic to time-travel to the Jacobean era, experiencing the castle in its original state.
The Past as a Living Presence
The children's exploration of the castle and time travel bring the history of Arden to life, allowing them to interact with people from the past.
Family Heritage and Identity
The children read the history of Arden and dress in period costumes, connecting with their ancestors and the legacy of the Arden family.
Characters to notice
- Elfrida Arden
Explores the castle, attempts to draw it, dresses in Jacobean costume, and time-travels to the 1600s where she meets her Cousin Dick.
- Edred Arden
Explores the castle, draws a picture of it, dresses in Jacobean costume, and time-travels to Whitehall where he attends a masque and meets King James I.
- The Mouldiwarp
Implied presence through the magic of white feathers that enables the time travel.
- Cousin Dick
Appears in the past as a jolly boy who invites Elfrida to play ball in the garden.
- King James I
Edred meets him at Whitehall; the King comments that Edred has a 'bonny face'.
- Sir Edward Talbot
Mentioned in the history of Arden as having plotted against King James I; Elfrida wonders if he is the same Edward Talbot she met earlier.
Key passages
“Three days, because there had been a quarrel. But days pass quickly when the sun shines, and it is holiday-time, and you have a big ruined castle to explore and examine—a castle that is your own, or your brother’s.”
The children had quarreled and not spoken for three days, but the sunny holiday weather and the excitement of exploring their own ruined castle made the time pass swiftly.
Sets the scene after the quarrel, highlighting the children's shared adventure.
“I wonder if he was like my Edward Talbot? I would like to see him again. I wish I’d told him about us having been born so many years after he died. But it would have been difficult to explain, wouldn’t it?”
Elfrida muses whether the Sir Edward Talbot in the history book is the same person she met, and regrets not explaining that she and Edred were from the future.
Shows Elfrida's curiosity about the past and the complexities of time travel.
“We went to the King’s house. Whitehall is the name. I should like to call my house Whitehall—if it wasn’t called Arden Castle, you know. And there were thousands of servants, I should think, all much finer than you could dream of, and lords and ladies, and lots of things to eat, and bear-baiting and cockfighting in the garden.”
Edred describes his visit to Whitehall Palace, where he saw many servants, nobles, and entertainments like bear-baiting and cockfighting.
Edred's account of the Jacobean court, reflecting the era's customs and his own perspective.