'Tum tum, tiddle pom, tara tara pom' Archibold was walking at a fast trot, he was nearly home and the thought of all his good news was making him feel positively jaunty as he entered his home forest. 'Not long to Persimmon Heights and a nice sit down with a cup of tea' he thought. He carefully felt inside his waistcoat pocket, for there, safely wrapped in a cabbage leaf was a most beautiful and rare, sky blue stone - a gift from Eleanora for baby Harriet. 'Just wait till Hortensia hears the news - hope after all, there is hope after all and such a present for Harriet - well what a time of it I've had', and with that he burst into a song and jumped over a bush with the sheer joy of his feelings.
By the time he reached half way home, he was accompanied by a large escort party of very excited gnomes. Everyone knew that Archibold was daring and brave and that if he had felt a calling to follow a path - that he would follow it come what may - which sometimes was a very long way indeed.
As he climbed the last hill he saw Hortensia waiting by the gate with Harriet in her arms and Aunt Mildred and Uncle Humperdinck, Stephanotis and Isabel all waving their hats and calling his name. Suddenly Archibold stopped in his tracks, for there in front of him by the side of the tree, was a most unusual sight. Gingerly sitting on a collection of small wooden stools joined together with planks and covered with several of Aunt Mildred's table cloths pinned together, and of course trying to look as small as possible - was the gaunt but distinctly elegant form of The Old Lady.
'She has come for tea, we wanted her to hear the news at the same time of as us', Hortensia tried to tell Archibold everything that had happened since he had been away - all at once, 'she is very kind and so polite, hard to believe she is human'. So there we are, all the gnomes perched around the old lady, some of the younger ones even climbed up onto the higher branches so that she would have some company at eye level and they all settled down for a proper tea. Aunt Mildred and Hortensia had made lots of cakes for The Old Lady to eat. Each cake barely made a human mouthful, but the taste was so alluring, particularly the beetroot loaf, that she gratifyingly ate eight.
Archibold was in a bit of a daze, but after several cups of mint tea and six cucumber sandwiches, he settled down for a quick snooze before sharing his adventures.
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