novelas ingles

THE LOST CROWNS OF ANGLIA
Seaburgh is a small town by the sea on the east coast of England. This part of England is called East Anglia. I went to Seaburgh for a holiday in 1919 with my friend, Henry Long.
There were few visitors in Seaburgh that year. There was only one other visitor in our hotel. His name was Paxton. Paxton was a tall, thin young man. He looked worried and unhappy.
Oneevening, when Henry and I were sitting in the hotel lounge, Paxton came up to us. 'Excuse me,' said Paxton, 'I must speak to somebody. Something strange has happened to me. I'd like to talk to someone about it. May I talk to you?'
'Of course,' I said. 'Please sit down and tell us about it.'
'A few days ago,' Paxton said, 'I went for a walk to Freston. Freston is a village about five miles from here. Itook my camera with me. The church at Freston has an unusual door. I wanted to photograph it. There are three wooden crowns on the door. The village priest came out of the church. I asked him about the three crowns on the door. The priest told me a strange story.
'Many years ago,' said Paxton, 'Anglia was a kingdom. The last king of Anglia died over a thousand years ago. When he died, his threecrowns disappeared. The people believed that the crowns were magic. They believed that
the crowns were buried in different places. The crowns guarded the coast against enemies from across the sea.
'About three hundred years ago, one of the crowns was found. It was secretly sold — no one knows what happened to it after that.'
'What about the other two crowns?' asked Henry. 'The second crown waswashed into the sea. It was never found again.'
'What about the third crown?' I asked Paxton. 'Was it ever found?'
'I'll tell you about that,' answered Paxton. There was a family here called Ager. The people believed that the Agers were guardians of the third crown. The last Ager died a year ago, in 1918. He had no children. I found his grave in the churchyard - I wrote down what was written onthe gravestone.
'Later, I went to the bookshop in Freston. By chance, I found an old book dated 1740. Inside it were some lines of poetry:
'Nathaniel Ager is my name,
I own the hill above the sand,
All Agers' duty is the same:
To guard the crown that guards the land.
When I am dead and in my grave,
And all my bones are rotten,
My sons shall keep my name alive:
It shall not be forgotten.''I bought the book and walked back towards Seaburgh. I found the house where William Ager had lived. The house is half-way between Freston and Seaburgh.
'Above the house is a small hill. There is a circle of trees on top. I knew that this was the place!'
'The place for what?' I asked. Henry and I were becoming tired of this long story.
'The place where the crown was buried,' said Paxton.
'Anddid you find this crown?' I asked in a tired voice. Paxton's answer surprised us both.
'I have it in my room,' he said. 'Come and see it, then you'll believe me.'
Henry and I did not believe him. We thought that Paxton was not telling the truth. But we stood up and followed him.
Paxton led us to his room. He opened a suitcase. Inside the suitcase was something wrapped in newspapers. Heunwrapped the newspapers. There was a crown!
The crown was made of silver. It was a circle of metal with four jewels. I put out my hand to touch it.
'Don't touch it!' Paxton cried and held the crown away from us.
'Why not?' I asked in surprise. 'We won't take it from you!"
'I'm sorry,' said Paxton. 'It's because . . .' He looked round the room in a strange way. 'Since I took the crown, I haven'tbeen alone.'
'You haven't been alone?' Henry said. 'What do you mean?'
Then Paxton told us more of his story.
'After I'd been to Ager's house, I came back here. I got a spade and a lantern. When it was dark, I went back to the hill above the house. I started to dig a hole at the top of the hill, in the centre of the circle of trees'.
'As I was digging,' Paxton went on, 'I was sure someone was...