*But your kittens," said Rosemary. *Do tell us about them! How many are there? And are they like you? Oh, I must see them!"
*There are two of them, a boy and a girl," said Carbonel. *They are said to be remarkably handsome a" but whether they are like me you must judge for yourselves," he added modestly.
*Then we can see them?"
*Certainly. I have chosen you to look after them while I am away."
*Of course we"ll look after them for you! We"d love to, wouldn"t we, John? I shall have to ask Mother, of course, but I"m sure she will say yes."
*Guard them faithfully till I come back."
*When will that be?" asked John.
*Three days? Three weeks? Three months? Who can tell?"
*But why must you go?" persisted John.
*Once every seven years I and my royal brothers are summoned to the presence of the Great Cat."
*But who are your royal brothers?" asked Rosemary.
*You must not think that I am the only cat king," explained Carbonel. *Every city in the world where there are cats has a king to rule over them, just as I rule over the cats of Fallowhithe. When the Summons comes, we must all obey. There will be lean, blue-eyed cats from Siam, long-haired cats from Persia, great tawny jungle cats, and thin, big-boned cats from Egypt. Cats of every colour a" black as coal, white as milk, grey as woodsmoke. Whatever the colour, whatever the kind, when the Summons comes we all must answer."
*But who will look after your kingdom for you while you are away?" asked John.
*My beautiful Queen, my lovely Blandamour, will rule with the help of my cousin Merbeck. Blandamour is wise and good, but I cannot answer for all the queens of the neighbouring towns. Queen Grisana of Broomhurst is ambitious, and her husband is old. Do not let my kittens stray.
They are a little a"" There was a pause, as though Carbonel were searching for the right word. *High spirited," he concluded. *Early tomorrow morning, before I go, I shall visit you again and bring my royal children with me."
It was getting dark in the Green Cave, and the shadow that was Carbonel slipped silently down from the biscuit tin and rubbed against Rosemary, and his purring filled the little s.p.a.ce under the currant bushes like an organ. A warm tongue licked her cheek.
*Dear Carbonel!" said Rosemary, putting her arms round him for a minute. *Of course we"ll do our best to take care of your kittens, but do you think a""
She broke off. The black cat had slipped from her and melted into the other shadows.
6.
The Royal Kittens.
They did not ask that night if they might have the kittens after all. Rosemary felt that her mother was not in a *yes-of-course-darling" mood. She was still having trouble with a dress she was making, and only looked in to tell them to take the sausages on the cracked plate for supper.
*Never mind," said John. *You can ask at breakfast tomorrow. Don"t forget, Carbonel said he was coming early."
But Carbonel"s idea of early was rather different from theirs.
Rosemary was awakened next morning by a fly which buzzed persistently around her pillow. She brushed it away with a sleepy hand once or twice, and turned over; but the fly continued to buzz. Presently she became aware that it was not just buzzing. It was saying over and over again in a shrill, angry voice, *For goodness" sake, wake up!"
Rosemary opened one eye sleepily, and saw the fly a few inches away on the curve of her pillow. It was jumping up and down angrily on all of its six legs.
*I am awake," said Rosemary sleepily, and gave a cavernous yawn.
The fly made a noise that sounded like an outraged squeak, and braced itself.
*Don"t do that," it said in an agitated voice. *I once knew a fly who was swallowed by a yawn!"
*How horrible!" said Rosemary, thinking more of the yawner than the fly. She was wide awake now and sitting up.
*Here am I, simply come to deliver a message to oblige, and my very life is threatened! First you go flapping like a windmill, and then a""
*I"m so sorry," said Rosemary humbly.
*And you should be," said the fly a little more calmly. *Many people would just have flown off without delivering the message. But not me. I"m not that kind of fly. Luckily for you, I have a weakness for royalty."
*Royalty?" interrupted Rosemary. *Is it from Carbonel? The message, I mean."
The fly nodded importantly.
*I was just to tell you, "We are here." Kings talk like that, you know," it added condescendingly.
*But where is "here"?" asked Rosemary.
*The greenhouse at the bottom of the garden. Oh! There you go again!"
Without warning, Rosemary had flung back the bedclothes and jumped out of bed. Buzzing angrily, the fly circled round her as she dressed.
*I am sorry!" she said again, *and of course I"m very grateful to you, but I must go and tell John at once. I think I"ve got some sugar somewhere."
She felt in the pocket of her school blazer and brought out a rather dusty sugar lump, which she put on the dressing table. Then, in one movement, she pushed her toes into her slippers and her arms into her dressing gown.
John and Rosemary did not waste time dressing. They crept downstairs into the shining, early morning garden. It was so early that the shadows were still long and narrow, and the dew from the gra.s.s, which needed cutting, was cold on their bare ankles.
The birds and the small daylight creatures were all awake. The faint hum that Rosemary and John had noticed after drinking the red mixture was all around them, like the hum of a busy market place, but fainter and on a higher note. If they stood still, they could distinguish the little voices of which it was made. Only the birds sang loudly and excitedly of all the things they hoped to do on such a glorious day. Rosemary wanted to stop and listen, but John pulled her on.
The greenhouse was quite small. It had not been used for some time. The lock was broken, and several of the panes were cracked. The coloured tiles patterning the floor had come loose from their moorings and rocked beneath Rosemary"s and John"s feet when they walked on them. The greenhouse no longer held rows of pots, full of delicate flowers. There was only one remaining climbing plant which had run riot over the walls and roof. Mrs Brown called it plumbago. It was flowering now, and great trusses of pale blue blossoms hung among the dark green leaves. John and Rosemary ran down the path and opened the door.
On the shelf which had once housed pots of geraniums and primulas and lacy ferns, before a curtain of blue flowers, sat Carbonel. Beside him was a snow-white Persian, and between them were two kittens, one coal-black with white paws and the other tortoise-sh.e.l.l. All four sat quite still with their tails wrapped neatly around their front paws from left to right. The children hesitated by the open door. A blue flower fell silently between the kittens, and the black one raised a paw as if to pat it.
*Calidor!" said Carbonel sternly, and the kitten instantly wrapped his tail round his paws again, as if that would keep them out of mischief.
*Good morning, Rosemary. Good morning, John."
*Good morning," said the children together, and John, to his surprise, found himself adding, *Sir."
*My dear," said Carbonel, turning to the white cat. *I have great pleasure in presenting my two friends, John and Rosemary."
The white cat gazed at them with wide, faraway blue eyes and bowed her head graciously. *My husband has often spoken of you. His friends will always be mine."
*Thank you," said John rather lamely.
*Present the children, my love," said Blandamour. Carbonel bent his head in acknowledgement.
*My son, Prince Calidor, and my daughter, Princess Pergamond. Make your bows, my children."
The two kittens stood up, and with back legs splayed out and small tails erect, made rather wobbly bows. John bobbed his head, and Rosemary lifted the skirt of her nightdress and made a little curtsy.
*I give my children into your care," said Carbonel. *Protect their nine lives as if they were your own. And you, my children, repeat the royal rules each day and put them into practice."
*Yes, Father," said the kittens in shrill chorus.
*And obey John and Rosemary in all things."
*Yes, Father."
*Remember, they are in your charge and you are in theirs."
*Yes, Father."
*And when I come back, let me hear nothing to your discredit."
The black kitten, whose eyes had wandered to the drifting blue flowers again, began to say *Yes, Father," and hastily changed it to *No."
Carbonel turned to Blandamour. *My love, it is time for me to go. Come with me to the crossroads and see me on my way."
The black cat jumped silently to the tiled floor and went out into the sunlit garden, and Blandamour followed. John and Rosemary, watching them leap to the top of the garden wall, ran to wave good-bye. Standing on the garden roller, their chins level with the top of the wall, they could see Carbonel and Blandamour growing smaller and smaller as they trotted along the wall. It skirted the end of the gardens of number one hundred, number ninety-nine and number ninety-eight. At number ninety-seven, the wall curved, and the two cats disappeared from view.
*Well, that"s that!" said John, jumping down from the roller and wiping the moss from his hands on to his pyjamas.
*Come on. Let"s get back to the kittens. Aren"t they gorgeous!" said Rosemary.
They ran back to the greenhouse. To their surprise, only the tortoise-sh.e.l.l kitten was to be seen. She was standing on her hind paws on a flower pot, peering into an old watering can.
*Where"s the other one? Where"s Calidor?" asked Rosemary, looking round anxiously.
*He"s in here," said Pergamond in a m.u.f.fled voice, because she was still peering into the can. *It sounds as though he"s paddling. Why don"t you answer, Calidor?"
There was a splash and a faint mew. John rushed to the watering can and, putting in his hand, lifted out a bedraggled kitten, dripping with dirty water and mewing pitifully.
*You poor little thing!" said Rosemary, trying to wipe off the slime with her nightdress.
But the kitten only whimpered, *Where"s Woppit? Want Woppit!"
*What on earth is Woppit?" asked John.
*Here be old Woppit, my pretty dears!" said a voice behind them, and there in the doorway was a dusty, dishevelled, elderly tabby cat.
*Bother!" said Pergamond crossly.
*As if they could keep old Woppit away! "Too big for a nurse now," they said. But I knows better! Me that"s looked after "em since before their blessed blue eyes was open. They thought they"d hoodwinked old Woppit and whisked you away without her knowing. But I smells here, and I asks there, and sure enough, I"ve found my little furry sweetings! And where"s my precious princeling puss?"
All the time she was talking, Woppit was purring loudly and comfortably. But when she caught sight of Calidor, bedraggled and miserable in Rosemary"s lap, her untidy fur bristled with indignation.
*What have the horrid humans been doing to you then, my pet? I knew it all along! I never did hold with humans!"
*We aren"t wicked, even if we are humans!" said John indignantly. *And we didn"t do anything!"
*It was Calidor"s fault," said Pergamond virtuously. *We were hungry, and I only said I thought there might be sardines in the water at the bottom of the can, and he was looking to see, and he fell in. He was only doing this."
She put her front paws on the rim of the can, and heaving her stumpy hind legs up the side, tried to stand on the rim. John"s hand shot out again just in time to stop her from falling in as her brother had done. He set her firmly down on the ground.
*But there weren"t any sardines," said Calidor, who was beginning to revive. *Only a lot of smelly water." He sneezed violently. *I think I"ve lost a life," he went on with gloomy satisfaction. *You"ll catch it when Father hears!"
*I"m hungry," mewed Pergamond. *I want my breakfast!"
*Regular meals they"re used to, like any well brought-up kittens. There"s some people takes on a job without so much as knowing the first thing about it." Woppit looked sourly at John and Rosemary.
*Look here," said John angrily, *are you suggesting that Rosie and I aren"t capable of looking after a couple of kittens?"
*Well then, which of you is going to lick my little princeling clean? And no licking around the corners, mind!"
*Lick him!" said Rosemary in horror, looking at the kitten"s matted fur.
*That"s what I said. You"ll never get him clean without. Either I licks, or you licks, and if I stays and licks, I stays for good!" said Woppit. *Which is it to be?"
*I should have thought a bath a"" began Rosemary. But at the word *bath" the kittens set up such a mewing, and Woppit"s comforting was so noisy, that the children could not hear themselves speak. They slipped outside the greenhouse and shut the door behind them quite firmly.
*Whew!" said John. *I"m beginning to see what Carbonel means about the kittens being "high spirited"."
*Look here," interrupted Rosemary, *I think we should find Woppit very useful. After all, we can"t sit and hold their paws all day long."
*Yes, but I refuse to have an old tabby cat ordering me around," said John.
*I don"t think she"ll try if we make her see that we only want to do our best for the kittens."
*Perhaps you"re right," said John. *Suppose I run back upstairs and get them some milk, and you see what you can do with old Woppit." John ran.
When Rosemary went back into the greenhouse, Woppit was already vigorously licking a sulky Calidor. She eyed Rosemary suspiciously, but she did not stop.
*Please, Woppit," said Rosemary humbly, *John and I want you to stay and show us how to look after Prince Calidor and Princess Pergamond, if you will."
With a practised paw, Woppit rolled over a protesting Calidor and went on licking. She said nothing, but there was the faint suggestion of a purr.
*Please, Woppit!" pleaded Rosemary.