Part 10 (1/2)

John and Rosemary stood and looked at each other in horrified silence. And then the silence was broken.

*What's that?' said Rosemary sharply. *Listen!' It was a strangled *mew!' which seemed to come from somewhere outside the greenhouse. The two children ran through the open door and looked around anxiously. Propped against the wall was a large, cracked, earthenware pot, the kind that gardeners sometimes use for forcing rhubarb. The hole at the top was covered with a brick, but it was from underneath that the sounds came.

*Quick!' said John. The mews were growing stronger.

They lifted the pot, but it was not the kittens they could hear. It was Woppit. The old cat was trying to free herself from the folds of the kittens' blanket in which she had been rolled.

*Woppit, dear!' said Rosemary, as she unwound the struggling animal. *The kittens have gone! What has happened?' But Woppit was too ruffled and woebegone to explain.

*My little, kingly kittens!' she wailed. *My furry darlings! They've gone! They've taken them away, and old Woppit still alive to tell! The shame of it!'

She rocked herself, moaning, from side to side. Rosemary lifted the rumpled animal on to her lap, but Woppit refused to be comforted.

*I'm quite sure you did everything you could!' said Rosemary. *But tell us what happened!'

*They were sleeping in their bed,' said Woppit, *so sweet and snug as two little sardines in a tin, and the moon was s.h.i.+ning down on them so round and white as a bowl of milk, and there was me standing guard, and humming a little song and never dreaming a”' She broke off, lifted her untidy whiskers to the sky and wailed again.

*Oh, do go on, Woppit!' said John. *If only you'd tell us what happened, perhaps we could do something!'

*Peaceful as a kitchen hearthrug it was,' she continued. *And then suddenly the door opened, and there was them humans!'

*What were they like?' asked Rosemary.

*There was a tall thin one with Persian fur that needed a deal of licking, and a short sleek one.'

*Persian fur?' repeated John.

*I guessed as much,' said Rosemary. *It must have been Mrs Cantrip. Her hair sticks out around her face when it's untidy, rather like a Persian cat, and ”sleek” is a very good description of Miss Dibdin. But how did they find out the kittens were here?'

*Search me!' said John shortly.

*Go on. Woppit. What did they do?'

*Do?' went on Woppit, rocking herself from side to side in her distress. *They stood over the basket, and Persian stirs my precious pets with her great bony finger and says, ”We're in luck, my dear! It's them sure enough. It's Carbonel's kittens!”

*And Sleek says, ”How do you know, dear?”

*”By the three white hairs at the tips of their little tails. The sign of all royal cats and kittens. Didn't they teach you anything at Oxford?”

*And Sleek claps her hands and says, ”What a stroke of luck!” and she laughs, as pleased as if she'd found a couple of kipper heads in a bowl of cream. ”Let's take 'em and go!” she says, and she bends down to scoop up my little furry loves.

*”Not without reckoning with me!” I says, and I ups and claws her hand good and proper. Well, she lets out a screech so loud as if she'd got her tail caught in the door. But Persian tumbles my darlings on to the floor, whips the blanket out of the basket and drops it on top of me. Mind you, I got in a left and right that'll leave a mark for a bit, but it weren't no good. She rolls me up and puts me in that dark place, and then she cackles through the hole at the top, ”You can tell them children they may be clever, but Katie Cantrip has still got a trick up her sleeve! I might have known they'd get themselves mixed up in this!” And then she claps something on top of the pot so that I can't even hear what happens to my little purring, furry sweetings!'

The old cat lifted her muzzle and wailed again.

*Look, Woppit, dear. You don't have to tell us how frightful it is. We know. But we must go back to the flat now. We'll come back as soon as we can after breakfast.'

*We've simply got to keep our heads,' said John.

*The best thing you can do is to wait here until Blandamour comes, and tell her what's happened,' Rosemary added.

*We've had some excitement, too, I can tell you!' said John.

The two children ran toward the house. When they reached the path from which they had set out the night before, Rosemary stopped.

*Look at that, John!'

*What, those two great skid marks on the gravel?'

*Yes, don't you see what it means?'

*Well, I suppose it means that we've got to get the garden roller and roll it flat again,' said John crossly. *It must have been the weight of the two of us in the chair last night. Oh, come on, Rosie. I could eat a huge breakfast. Hope it's fried eggs.'

*But it wasn't us!' persisted Rosemary. *Those are the marks of the rocking chair coming back with Mrs Cantrip! I think it did the same to her as it did to me. Of course it's a dear, but I don't think it's very bright. When you tell it to go home, it simply goes back to wherever it started from. It doesn't stop to think which house belongs to which person.'

John whistled, fried eggs forgotten for the moment.

*So when Mrs Cantrip told it to take her home, it brought her to your house by mistake, and I expect the broom with Miss Dibdin followed.'

Rosemary nodded.

*And I suppose the two of them thought they'd look around while they were here, so that's how they found the kittens. Almost by mistake! What rotten luck!'

*We've got to think of some way out of this as we've never thought before,' said Rosemary.

*Well, it's no use trying to think on empty stomachs. Do come on!'

Rosemary hurried, and together they burst into the flat. The adventures of the night before had paled before this new anxiety. They rushed into the kitchen where Mrs Brown was frying eggs and bacon.

*Mother! The kittens have gone!' said Rosemary. *They aren't anywhere to be found. Whatever shall we do?'

Her mother lifted a fried egg and slid it carefully on to a piece of fried bread. Then she looked up, and said with maddening grown-up detachment, *Do, darling? Well, first of all you had better get dressed and then both of you must have a thorough was.h.!.+ Where have you been? I don't mind you getting up early, Rosie, but I think you're a bit big to go wandering about the garden in your night things.'

*Yes, Mummy, but the kittens a”!'

Her mother smiled. *I expect they're somewhere in the garden, darling. Don't worry. Run off and dress now.'

Rosemary ran.

As soon as they were able after breakfast, which, for John at least, was a thorough-going affair of cereal, bacon and egg, toast and marmalade, the children escaped to the garden. As they went into the greenhouse, Blandamour ran to meet them. Merbeck sat in respectful attendance in the background, and Woppit lay on the floor with her front paws over her nose moaning quietly to herself.

*Has she told you what's happened?' asked Rosemary.