Mary Poppins in the Park

eye. 'Except, of course,' she added severely, 'not to be so foolish in future.'

'Out of the frying-pan into the fire? Oh, I'll never marry again, Mary! Once bitten, twice shy. The boys must manage somehow.'

'Perhaps, Mr. Mo,' Mrs. Hickory dimpled, 'you would let me wash and mend for them. It would be no trouble at all.'

'What a beautiful thought!' cried Mr. Mo. 'All's well that ends well, Mary, you see! And I in return, Mrs. Hickory, will build you a nice little house. Oh, I've lost sixpence and found a shilling! Look!' he said, pointing to the sunset. 'Red sky at night is the shepherd's delight! My dears, we are all going to be so happy. I shall start on my Fun Fair at once!'

And away he dashed across the lawn, with the rest of the party at his heels.

'But what about the wedding-breakfast?' Michael panted after him.

'My goodness, I'd forgotten. Here — fruit, cake, sausages, buns!' He took a piece from every dish and thrust it into Michael's hands.

Mary Poppins looked on disapprovingly.

'Now, Michael, not another bite! You will have no room for your supper.'

'Enough's as good as a feast, my lad!' Mr. Mo grinned at Michael as he watched the food disappearing.

'Enough is too much!' said Mary Poppins. 'Come along, both of you!'

'Oh, I cannot bear to leave it!' cried Jane. Her little Park seemed brighter than ever, as it shone in the setting sun.

'You never will!' Mr. Mo declared. 'As long as you remember it, you can always come and go. And I hope you're not going to tell me that you can't be in two places at once. A clever girl who makes parks and people surely knows how to do that!' He smiled his twinkling, teasing smile.

Mary Poppins stepped out from under the buttercup, with a homeward look in her eye.

'Say goodbye politely, Jane!' She sent the perambulator rolling along the pebbled path.

'Goodbye, Mr. Mo!' said Jane softly, as she stood on tip-toe and held out her arms.

'Oh, luck! Oh, joy!' He patted his cheek. 'This is no Park for Poor People! I'm rich — she's given me a kiss! Share and share alike!' he cried, as he kissed Mrs. Hickory right on a dimple.

'Remember, Sam!' warned Mary Poppins. 'Look before you leap!'

'Oh, I shan't do any leaping, Mary! A little dance and a hop or two — nothing more serious, I assure you!'

She gave a disbelieving sniff, but Mr. Mo did not hear it. He was skipping beside Mrs. Hickory and seizing her apron-strings.

'May I have the pleasure?' they heard him saying.

'Me, too!' cried Eeenie, Meenie and Mynie, as they flew to join their father.

And there they all were, prancing round the table, helping themselves to pie and wine and hanging the cherries behind their ears. Mrs. Hickory's dimples were twinkling gaily and her babies were bobbing about in her arms.

'It's a poor heart that never rejoices!' cried Mr. Mo, as he whirled her about. He seemed to have quite forgotten his guests in the gaiety of the moment.

'It's love that makes the world go round!' yelled Eenie, Meenie and Mynie.

And, indeed, the world did seem to be spinning, turning for joy upon its axis, as the little Park spun round its buttercup tree. Round and round and round it went in a steady, stately movement.

The wedding-party was waltzing and singing, and the Ice Cream Man was singing, too, as he pedalled back along the path. A cluster of Fruit Bars was in his hand and he tossed them on to the table.

'Three for luck and free for luck!' he cried, as he trundled by.

'Step up, if you please,' said Mary Poppins, hustling them along before her as a hen hustles her chicks. 'And what are you doing, Jane and Michael, walking backwards like that?'

'I'b wadching the weddig-feast!' mumbled Michael, with his mouth full of his last cherry. He gave a long lugubrious sigh as each creak of the perambulator drew him farther from that wonderful meal.

'Taking one more look at my Park, Mary Poppins,' said Jane, as she gazed at the happy scene.

'Well, you're not a pair of crabs! Turn round — and walk in the right direction.'

The sunset dazzled their eyes as they turned. And the afternoon seemed to be turning with them, from two o'clock till five. Tick-tock! said every clock. Ding-dong! said the bells in the steeples.

Then the spinning world slowed down and was still, and they blinked as though coming out of a dream. Had it taken them seconds, minutes or hours to walk down that pebbly path? They looked about them curiously.

The blossoms of clover were now at their feet, instead of above their heads, and the grasses of the Wild Corner brushed against their knees. The bumble-bee went buzzing by, no larger, it seemed, than usual. And the fly on a near-by bluebell was about the size of a fly. As for the ant — it was hiding under a grass-seed and was therefore invisible.

The big Park spread serenely round them, just the same as ever. The Ice Cream Man, who had come to the last verse of his song—

'I'll sing you twelve-o

Green grow the rushes-o,'

was wheeling away from the Wild Corner. And the Park Keeper, with the finished daisy-chain round his neck, was lumbering towards them.

They glanced down. Below them lay the little Park, hemmed in by its walls of weed. They blinked again and smiled at each other as they fell on their knees among the flowers.

The little lawns were now in shadow. Long patterns of daisy and bluebell lay black across the paths. The tiny flowers in Jane's garden were bending on their stems. By lake and swing the seats were deserted.

'They've eaten every bit of the feast. Look!' whispered Michael. 'Empty plates!'

'And not a sign of anyone. I expect they've all gone home to bed.' Jane sighed. She would like to have seen Mr. Mo again, and to measure herself against his elbow.

'They're lucky, then, 'ooever they are! Let's to bed, says Sleepy-'Ead — as they told me when I was a boy!' The Park Keeper stooped above them and surveyed Jane's handiwork.

'No Parks allowed in the Park!' he observed. Then he eyed the two rapt faces. 'Well, you seem very preh'occupied! What are you lookin' for?'

Jane gave him an absent-minded glance.

'Mary Poppins' cousin,' she murmured, as she searched through the little Park.

The Park Keeper's face was a sight to see.

'Cousin! Down there — among the weeds? You'll be tellin' me next 'e's a beetle!'

'I'll be telling you something in a minute!' said a wrathful voice beside him. Mary Poppins regarded him frostily. 'Did I or didn't I hear you referring to me as an insect?'

'Well — not to you,' the Park Keeper faltered. 'But if your cousin's down in that grass, what can 'e be but a beetle?'

'Oh, indeed! And if he's a beetle, what am I?'

He looked at her uneasily and wished that something would strike him dumb.

'Hum,' he said, fumbling for a word. 'I may be as mad as a March Hatter—'

'May be!' she gave a disdainful sniff.

'But I don't see 'ow you can 'ave a cousin sittin' under a buttercup!'

'I can have a cousin anywhere — and no business of yours!'

'You can't!' he cried. 'T'isn't natural. I suppose,' he added sarcastically, 'you're related to the Man in the Moon!'

'My uncle!' said Mary Poppins calmly, as she turned the perambulator into the path that led from the Wild Corner.

The Park Keeper opened his mouth in surprise and shut it again with a snap.

'Ha, ha! You will 'ave your little joke. 'Owsumever, I don't believe it!'

'Nobody asked you to,' she replied. 'Come, Jane! Come, Michael! Quick march, please!'

Night had now come to the little Park. The wildweed, thickly clustered about it, looked very like a forest. No