2 the boys come home – and kiki!

that day and the morning of the next the two girls spent in exploring their holiday home. it wascertainly a tiny place, but just big enough for them. there was a large old-fashioned kitchen and atiny parlour. above were three small bedrooms.

‘one for mother, one for you and me, lucy-ann, and one for the boys,’ said dinah. ‘mother’sgoing to do the cooking and we’re all to help with the housework, which won’t be much. isn’t ourbedroom sweet?’

it was a little room tucked into the thatched roof, with a window jutting out from the thatch. thewalls slanted in an odd fashion, and the ceiling slanted too. the floor was very uneven, and thedoorways were low, so that dinah, who was growing tall, had to lower her head under one or twoin case she bumped it.

‘spring cottage,’ she said. ‘it’s a nice name for it, especially in the springtime.’

‘it’s named because of the spring that runs down behind it,’ said her mother. ‘the water startssomewhere up in the yard of the castle, i believe, runs down through a tunnel it has made for itself,and gushes out just above the cottage at the back. it runs through the garden then, and disappearsdown the hillside.’

the girls explored the spring. they found where it gushed out, and dinah tasted the water. itwas cold and crystal clear. she liked hearing the gurgling sound it made in the untidy little garden.

she heard it all night long in her sleep and loved it.

the view from the cottage was magnificent. they could see the whole of the valley below, andcould follow too the winding road that led up to their cottage. far away in the distance was therailway station, looking like a toy building. twice a day a train came into it, and it too looked likea toy.

‘just like the railway engine and carriages that jack used to have,’ said lucy- ann,remembering. and how cross our old uncle geoffrey was when we used to set it going! he said itmade more noise than a thunderstorm. golly, i’m glad we don’t live with him any more.’

dinah looked at her watch. ‘it’s almost time to meet the train,’ she said. ‘i bet the boys arefeeling excited! come on. let’s find my mother.’

mrs mannering was just about to go and get the car out. the girls packed themselves in besideher. lucy-ann felt terribly excited. she was so looking forward to being with jack again. andwith philip too. it would be lovely to be all together once more. she did hope dinah wouldn’t flyinto one of her tempers too soon! she and philip quarrelled far too much.

they arrived at the little station. the train was not yet signalled. lucy-ann walked up anddown, longing to see the signal go down – and then, with an alarming clank, it did go down.

almost at the same moment the smoke of the train appeared, and then, round the corner, came theengine, puffing vigorously, for it was uphill to the station.

both the boys were hanging out of the window, waving and shouting. the girls screamedgreetings, and capered about in delight.

‘there’s kiki!’ shouted lucy-ann. ‘kiki! good old kiki!’

with a screech kiki flew off jack’s shoulder and landed on lucy-ann’s. she rubbed her beakagainst the little girl’s cheek and made a curious cracking noise. she was delighted to see her.

the boys jumped out of the carriage. jack rushed to lucy-ann and gave her a hug, which thelittle girl returned, her eyes shining. kiki gave another screech and flew back on to jack’sshoulder.

‘wipe your feet,’ she said sternly to the startled porter. and where is your handkerchief?’

philip grinned at his sister dinah. ‘hallo, old thing,’ he said. ‘you’ve grown! good thing i havetoo, or you’d be as tall as i am! hallo, lucy-ann – you haven’t grown! been a good girl atschool?’

‘don’t talk like a grown-up!’ said dinah. ‘mother’s outside in the car. come and see her.’

the porter took their trunks on his barrow and followed the four excited children. kiki flewdown to the barrow and looked at him with bright eyes.

‘how many times have i told you to shut the door?’ she said. the porter dropped the handles ofthe barrow in surprise. he didn’t know whether to answer this extraordinary bird or not.

kiki gave a laugh just like jack’s and flew out to the car. she joined the others, and tried to geton to mrs mannering’s shoulder. she liked dinah’s mother very much.

‘attention, please,’ said kiki sternly. ‘open your books at page six.’

everyone laughed. ‘she got that from one of the masters,’ said jack. ‘oh, aunt allie, she wasso funny in the train. she put her head out of the window at every station and said “right away,there!” just as she had heard a guard say, and you should have seen the engine-driver’s face!’

‘it’s lovely to have you back,’ said lucy-ann, keeping close to jack. she adored her brotherthough he didn’t really take a great deal of notice of her. they all got into the car, and the portershoved the luggage in somehow, keeping a sharp eye on kiki.

‘please shut the door,’ she said, and went off into one of her never-ending giggles.

‘shut up, kiki,’ said jack, seeing the porter’s startled face. ‘behave yourself, or i’ll send youback to school.’

‘oh, you naughty boy!’ said kiki, ‘oh, you naughty, naughty, naughty . . .’

‘i’ll put an elastic band round your beak if you dare to say another word!’ said jack. ‘can’t yousee i want to talk to aunt allie?’

jack and lucy-ann called mrs mannering aunt allie, because ‘mrs mannering’ seemed toostiff and standoffish. she liked both children very much, but especially lucy-ann, who was farmore gentle and affectionate than dinah had ever been.

‘i say – this looks exciting country!’ said philip, looking out of the car windows. ‘plenty ofbirds here for you, freckles – and plenty of animals for me!’

‘where’s that brown rat you had this term?’ said jack, with a mischievous glance at dinah. shegave a squeal at once.

philip began to feel about in his pockets, diving into first one and then the other, whilst dinahwatched him in horror, expecting to see a brown rat appear at any moment.

‘mother! stop the car and let me walk!’ begged dinah. ‘philip’s got a rat somewhere on him.’

‘here he is – no, it’s my hanky,’ said philip. ‘ah – what’s this? – no, that’s not him. now – herewe are . . .’

he pretended to be trying to get something out of his pocket with great difficulty. ‘ah, you’dbite, would you?’

dinah squealed again, and her mother stopped the car. dinah fumbled at the door-handle.

‘no, you stay in, dinah,’ said her mother. ‘philip, you get out and the rat too. i quite agree withdinah – there are to be no rats running all over us. so you can get out and walk, philip.’

‘well, mother – as a matter of fact – i’ve left the rat behind at school,’ said philip, with a grin.

‘i was just teasing dinah, that’s all.’

‘beast!’ said dinah.

‘i thought you were,’ said his mother, driving on again. ‘well, you nearly had to walk home, sojust be careful! i don’t mind any of your creatures myself, except rats or snakes. now, what doyou think of spring cottage?’

the boys liked it just as much as the girls did – but it was the strange old castle that really tooktheir fancy. dinah forgot to sulk as she pointed it out to the boys.

‘we’ll go up there,’ said jack, at once.

‘i think not,’ said mrs mannering. ‘i’ve just explained to the girls that it’s dangerous up there.’

‘oh – but why?’ asked jack, disappointed.

‘well, there has been a landslide on the road, and no one dares to set foot on it now,’ said mrsmannering. ‘i did hear that the whole castle is slipping a bit, and might collapse if the roadcrumbles much more.’

‘it sounds very exciting,’ said philip, his eyes gleaming.

they went indoors and the girls showed them their room up in the roof. lucy-ann was sodelighted to be with jack that she could hardly leave him for a minute. he was very like her, withdeep-red hair, green eyes and hundreds of freckles. he was a very natural, kindly boy, and mostpeople liked him at once.

philip, whom jack often called tufty, was very like his sister too, but much more even-tempered. he had the same unruly lock of hair in front, and even their mother had this, so that jackoften referred to them as ‘the three tufties’. the boys were older than the two girls, and verygood friends indeed.

‘holidays at last!’ said philip, undoing his trunk. dinah watched him from a safe distance.

‘got any creatures in there?’ she asked.

‘only a baby hedgehog; and you needn’t worry, he’s got no fleas,’ said philip.

‘i bet he has,’ said dinah, moving a few steps back. ‘i shan’t forget that hedgehog you foundlast summer.’

‘i tell you, this baby one hasn’t got any fleas at all,’ said philip. ‘i got some stuff from thechemist and powdered him well, and he’s as clean as can be. his spines haven’t turned brownyet!’

the girls looked with interest as philip showed them a tiny prickly ball rolled up in his jerseysin the trunk. it uncurled a little and showed a tiny snout.

‘he’s sweet,’ said lucy-ann, and even dinah didn’t mind him.

‘the only snag about him is – he’s going to be awfully prickly to carry about with me,’ saidphilip, putting the tiny thing into his shorts pocket.

‘you’ll probably stop carrying him about when you’ve sat on him once or twice,’ said dinah.

‘i probably shall,’ said philip. ‘and just see you don’t annoy me too much, di – for he’d be amarvellous thing to put into your bed!’

‘shut up bickering, you two, and let’s go out and explore,’ said jack. ‘lucy-ann says there’s aspring in the garden that comes all the way down from the castle.’

‘i’m king of the castle,’ said kiki, swaying gently to and fro on top of the dressing-table. ‘popgoes the weasel.’

‘you’re getting a bit mixed,’ said jack. ‘come on – out we all go!’