Mary Poppins Comes Back

'Paint the clock,' said Michael helpfully.

'No.'

'Well, the Royal Doulton Bowl.'

Jane glanced up. The three little boys were racing over the field inside the green rim of the bowl. At any other time she would have liked to paint them but to-day she was not going to be pleasant or obliging.

'I won't. I will paint what I want.'

And she began to make a picture of herself, quite alone, brooding over her eggs.

Michael and John and Barbara sat on the floor watching.

Jane was so interested in her eggs that she almost forgot her bad temper.

Michael leaned forward. 'Why not put in a hen — just there!'

He pointed to a spare white patch, brushing against John with his arm. Over went John, falling sideways and upsetting the cup with his foot. The coloured water splashed out and flooded the picture.

With a cry Jane sprang to her feet.

'Oh, I can't bear it. You great Clumsy! You've spoilt everything!'

And, rushing at Michael, she punched him so violently that he, too, toppled over and crashed down on top of John. A squeal of pain and terror broke from the Twins, and above their cries rose Michael's voice wailing 'My head is broken! What shall I do? My head is broken!' over and over again.

'I don't care, I don't care!' shouted Jane. 'You wouldn't leave me alone and you've spoilt my picture. I hate you, I hate you, I hate—!'

The door burst open.

Mary Poppins surveyed the scene with furious eyes.

'What did I say to you?' she enquired of Jane in a voice so quiet that it was terrible. 'That if I heard One Word — and now look what I find! A nice party you'll have at Miss Lark's, I don't think! Not one step will you go out of this room this afternoon or I'm a Chinaman.'

'I don't want to go. I'd rather stay here.' Jane put her hands behind her back and sauntered away. She did not feel a bit sorry.

'Very good.'

Mary Poppins voice was gentle but there was something very frightening in it.

Jane watched her dressing the others for the party. And when they were ready Mary Poppins took her best hat out of a brown-paper bag and set it on her head at a very smart angle. She clipped her gold locket round her neck and over it wound the red-and-white checked scarf Mrs. Banks had given her. At one end was stitched a white label marked with a large M.P., and Mary Poppins smiled at herself in the mirror as she tucked the label out of sight.

Then she took her parrot-handled umbrella from the cupboard, popped it under her arm and hurried the little ones down the stairs.

'Now you'll have time to think!' she remarked tartly, and, with a loud sniff, shut the door behind her.

* * *

For a long time Jane sat staring in front of her. She tried to think about her seven eggs. But somehow they didn't interest her any more.

What were they doing now, at Miss Lark's? she wondered. Playing with Miss Lark's dogs, perhaps, and listening to Miss Lark telling them that Andrew had a wonderful pedigree but that Willoughby was half an Airedale and half a Retriever and the worst half of both. And presently they would all, even the dogs, have chocolate biscuits and walnut cake for tea.

'Oh, dear!'

The thought of all she was missing stirred angrily inside Jane and when she remembered it was all her own fault she felt crosser than ever.

Tick-tack! Tick-tock! said the clock loudly.

'Oh, be quiet!' cried Jane furiously, and picking up her paint-box she hurled it across the room.

It crashed against the glass face of the clock and, glancing off, clattered down upon the Royal Doulton Bowl.

Crrrrrrack! The Bowl toppled sideways against the clock.

Oh! Oh! What had she done?

Jane shut her eyes, not daring to look and see.

'I say — that hurt!'

A clear reproachful voice sounded in the room.

Jane started and opened her eyes.

'Jane!' said the voice again. 'That was my knee!'

She turned her head quickly. There was nobody in the room.

She ran to the door and opened it. Still nobody!

Then somebody laughed.

'Here, silly!' said the voice again. 'Up here!'

She looked up at the mantel-piece. Beside the clock lay the Royal Doulton Bowl with a large crack running right across it and, to her surprise, Jane saw that one of the painted boys had dropped the reins and was bending down holding his knee with both hands. The other two had turned and were looking at him sympathetically.

'But—' began Jane, half to herself and half to the unknown voice. 'I don't understand.' The boy in the Bowl lifted his head and smiled at her.

'Don't you? No, I suppose you don't. I've noticed that you and Michael often don't understand the simplest things — do they?'

He turned, laughing, to his brothers.

'No,' said one of them, 'not even how to keep the Twins quiet!'

'Nor the proper way to draw bird's eggs — she's made them all wriggly,' said the other.

'How do you know about the Twins — and the eggs?' said Jane, flushing.

'Gracious!' said the first boy. 'You don't think we could have watched you all this time without knowing everything that happens in this room! We can't see into the Night-Nursery, of course, or the bath-room. What coloured tiles has it?'

'Pink,' said Jane.

'Ours has blue-and-white. Would you like to see it?'

Jane hesitated. She hardly knew what to reply, she was so astonished.

'Do come! William and Everard will be your horses, if you like, and I'll carry the whip and run alongside. I'm Valentine, in case you don't know. We're Triplets. And, of course, there's Christina.'

'Where's Christina?' Jane searched the Bowl. But she saw only the green meadow and a little wood of alders and Valentine, William and Everard standing together.

'Come and see!' said Valentine persuasively, holding out his hand. 'Why should the others have all the fun? You come with us — into the Bowl!'

That decided her. She would show Michael that he and the Twins were not the only ones who could go to a party. She would make them jealous and sorry for treating her so badly.

'All right,' she said, putting out her hand. 'I'll come!'

Valentine's hand closed round her wrist and pulled her towards the Bowl. And, suddenly, she was no longer in the cool Day-Nursery but out in a wide sunlit meadow, and instead of the ragged nursery carpet, a springing turf of grass and daisies was spread beneath her feet.

'Hooray!' said Valentine, William and Everard, dancing round her. She noticed that Valentine was limping.

'Oh,' said Jane. 'I forgot! Your knee!'

He smiled at her. 'Never mind. It was the crack that did it. I know you didn't mean to hurt me!'

Jane took out her handkerchief and bound it round his knee.

'That's better!' he said politely, and put the reins into her hand.

William and Everard, tossing their heads and snorting, flew off across the meadow with Jane jingling the