



Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.










THE EXTRA DAY

BY

ALGERNON BLACKWOOD

AUTHOR OF "THE CENTAUR," "A PRISONER IN FAIRYLAND," "INCREDIBLE
ADVENTURES," ETC.



New York

1915



Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1915. Reprinted November,
1915.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER

I     THE MATERIAL

II    FANCY--SEED OF WONDER

III   DEATH OF A MERE FACT

IV    FACT--EDGED WITH FANCY

V     THE BIRTH OF WONDER

VI    THE GROWTH OF WONDER

VII   IMAGINATION WAKES

VIII  WHERE WONDER HIDES

IX    A PRIEST OF WONDER

X     FACT AND WONDER--CLASH

XI    JUDY'S PARTICULAR ADVENTURE

XII   TIM'S PARTICULAR ADVENTURE

XIII  TIME HESITATES

XIV   MARIA STIRS

XV    "A DAY WILL COME"

XVI   TIME HALTS

XVII  A DAY HAS COME

XVIII TIME GOES ON AGAIN--

XIX   --AS USUAL

XX    --BUT DIFFERENTLY!




CHAPTER I

THE MATERIAL


Judy, Tim, and Maria were just little children. It was impossible to
say exactly what their ages were, except that they were just the usual
age, that Judy was the eldest, Maria the youngest, and that Tim,
accordingly, came in between the two.

Their father did his best for them; so did their mother; so did Aunt
Emily, the latter's sister. It is impossible to say very much about
these three either, except that they were just Father, Mother, and Aunt
Emily. They were the Authorities-in-Chief, and they knew respectively
everything there was to be known about such remote and difficult
subjects as London and Money; Food, Health and Clothing; Conduct,
Behaviour and Regulations, both general and particular. Into these
three departments of activity the children, without realising that they
did so, classed them neatly. Aunt Emily, besides the special duties
assigned to her, was a living embodiment of No. While Father allowed
and permitted, while Mother wobbled and hesitated, Aunt Emily shook her
head with decision, and said distinctly No. She was too full of
warnings, advice, and admonitions to get about much. She wore gold
glasses, and had an elastic, pointed nose. From the children's point of
view she must be classed as invalid. Somewhere, deep down inside them,
they felt pity.

The trio loved them according to their just deserts; they grasped that
the Authorities did their best for them. This "best," moreover, was
done in different ways. Father did it with love and tenderness, that
