Mary Poppins Comes Back

reins behind them.

Beside her, one foot heavy and one foot light, because of his knee, ran Valentine.

And as he ran, he sang—

'My love, thou art a nosegay sweet,

My sweetest flower I prove thee;

And pleased I pin thee to my breast,

And dearly I do love thee!'

William and Everard's voices came in with the chorus,

'And deeeee-arly I do lo-o-ove thee!'

Jane thought it was rather an old-fashioned song, but then, everything about the Triplets was old-fashioned — their long hair, their strange clothes and their polite way of speaking.

'It is odd!' she thought to herself, but she also thought that this was better than being at Miss Lark's, and that Michael would envy her when she told him all about it.

On ran the horses, tugging Jane after them, drawing her away and away from the Nursery.

Presently she pulled up, panting, and looked back over the tracks their feet had made in the grass. Behind her, at the other side of the meadow, she could see the outer rim of the Bowl. It seemed small and very far away. And something inside her warned her that it was time to turn back.

'I must go now,' she said, dropping the jingling reins.

'Oh, no, no!' cried the Triplets, closing round her.

And now something in their voices made her feel uneasy.

'They'll miss me at home. I'm afraid I must go,' she said quickly.

'It's quite early!' protested Valentine. 'They'll still be at Miss Lark's. Come on. I'll show you my paint- box.'

Jane was tempted.

'Has it got Chinese White?' she enquired. For Chinese White was just what her own paint-box lacked.

'Yes, in a silver tube. Come!'

Against her will Jane allowed him to draw her onwards. She thought she would just have one look at the paint-box and then hurry back. She would not even ask to be allowed to use it.

'But where is your house? It isn't in the Bowl!'

'Of course it is! But you can't see it because it's behind the wood. Come on!'

They were drawing her now under dark alder boughs. The dead leaves cracked under their feet and every now and then a pigeon swooped from branch to branch with a loud clapping of wings. William showed Jane a robin's nest in a pile of twigs, and Everard broke off a spray of leaves and twined it round her head. But in spite of their friendliness Jane was shy and nervous and she felt very glad when they reached the end of the wood.

'Here it is!' said Valentine, waving his hand.

And she saw rising before her a huge stone house covered with ivy. It was older than any house she had ever seen and it seemed to lean towards her threateningly. On either side of the steps a stone lion crouched, as if waiting the moment to spring.

Jane shivered as the shadow of the house fell upon her.

'I can't stay long—' she said, uneasily. 'It's getting late.'

'Just five minutes!' pleaded Valentine, drawing her into the hall.

Their feet rang hollowly on the stone floor. There was no sign of any human being. Except for herself and the Triplets the house seemed deserted. A cold wind swept whistling along the corridor.

'Christina! Christina!' called Valentine, pulling Jane up the stairs. 'Here she is!'

His cry went echoing round the house and every wall seemed to call back frighteningly,

'HERE SHE IS!'

There was a sound of running feet and a door burst open. A little girl, slightly taller than the Triplets and dressed in an old-fashioned, flowery dress, rushed out and flung herself upon Jane.

'At last, at last!' she cried triumphantly. 'The boys have been watching for you for ages! But they couldn't catch you before — you were always so happy!'

'Catch me?' said Jane. 'I don't understand!'

She was beginning to be frightened and to wish she had never come with Valentine into the Bowl.

'Great-Grandfather will explain,' said Christina, laughing curiously. She drew Jane across the landing and through the door.

'Heh! Heh! Heh! What's this?' demanded a thin, cracked voice.

Jane stared and drew back against Christina. For at the far end of the room, on a seat by the fire, sat a figure that filled her with terror. The firelight flickered over a very old man, so old that he looked more like a shadow than a human being. From his thin mouth a thin grey beard straggled and, though he wore a smoking cap, Jane could see that he was as bald as an egg. He was dressed in a long old-fashioned dressing-gown of faded silk, and a pair of embroidered slippers hung on his thin feet.

'So!' said the shadowy figure, taking a long curved pipe from his mouth. 'Jane has arrived at last.'

He rose and came towards her smiling frighteningly, his eyes burning in their sockets with a bright steely fire.

'I hope you had a good journey, my dear!' he croaked. And drawing Jane to him with a bony hand he kissed her cheek. At the touch of his grey beard Jane started back with a cry.

'Heh! Heh! Heh!' He laughed his cackling, terrifying laugh.

'She came through the alder wood with the boys, Great-Grandfather,' said Christina.

'Ah? How did they catch her?'

'She was cross at being the eldest. So she threw her paint-box at the Bowl and cracked Val's knee.'

'So!' the horrible old voice whistled. 'It was temper, was it? Well, well—' he laughed thinly, 'now you'll be the youngest, my dear! My youngest Great-Granddaughter. But I shan't allow any tempers here! Heh! Heh! Heh! Oh, dear, no. Well, come along and sit by the fire. Will you take tea or cherry-wine?'

'No, no!' Jane burst out. 'I'm afraid there's been a mistake. I must go home now. I live at Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane.'

'Used to, you mean,' corrected Val triumphantly. 'You live here now.'

'But you don't understand!' Jane said desperately. 'I don't want to live here. I want to go home.'

'Nonsense!' croaked the Great-Grandfather. 'Number Seventeen is a horrible place, mean and stuffy and modern. Besides you're not happy there. Heh! Heh! Heh! I know what it's like being the eldest — all the work and none of the fun. Heh! Heh! But here—' he waved his pipe, 'here you'll be the Spoilt One, the Darling, the Treasure, and never go back any more!'

'Never!' echoed William and Everard dancing round her.

'Oh, I must. I will!' Jane cried, the tears springing to her eyes.

The Great-Grandfather smiled his horrible toothless smile.

'Do you think we will let you go?' he enquired, his bright eyes burning. 'You cracked our Bowl. You must take the consequences. Christina, Valentine, William and Everard want you for their youngest sister. I want you for my youngest Great-Grandchild.

'Do you think we will let you go?' he enquired

Besides, you owe us something. You hurt Valentine's knee.'

'I will make up to him. I will give him my paint-box.'

'He has one.'

'My hoop.'

'He has out-grown hoops.'

'Well—' faltered Jane. 'I will marry him when I grow up.'

The Great-Grandfather cackled with laughter.

Jane turned imploringly to Valentine. He shook his head.