With little squeals of pleasure, Miss Dibdin began darting round the room carrying the invisible saucepan. The children could see the green liquid suspended in mid-air, about a foot away from the hand which seemed to be grasping the handle. With the invisible spoon, Miss Dibdin dropped a small blob of the mixture on the kitchen scales which stood on the table.
There was a tiny hiss and the scales disappeared. Next she tried a bunch of herbs that lay beside it. That disappeared, too. A brown paper bag, a saucer with something pink and rather horrid looking in it, all the things she had used to make her magic, disappeared one after another as she touched them with the dripping spoon. Her brush and comb on the rickety dressing table, the candlestick by her bed, one of the bedroom slippers by the chair, they all snuffed out as completely as the flame of a candle on a birthday cake.
*How absolutely smashing!" said John. *You are clever!"
Miss Dibdin flushed with pleasure. *I really think that even Katie will have to admit that it is quite creditable! She is always so crushing about my little efforts, though I must admit I have never succeeded in getting a spell to work before!"
As she spoke she gave a playful tap to the basket chair, and it was gone!
*Won"t it be a little awkward living in a room with invisible furniture?" asked Rosemary, as the bra.s.s bedstead disappeared, leaving the bedclothes, which had not been touched, still neatly tucked in and apparently floating on air.
*Perhaps it will, dear. What a practical little thing you are! Just one more a" I can"t resist it!" And she made a playful dab at the wardrobe. It disappeared, too, suddenly revealing a row of clothes inside hanging on a row of invisible pegs, with a neat line of shoes apparently floating beneath.
*You must admit, it"s enough to go to anyone"s head a little!" She laughed. *Of course I should really have made the counter-spell first, to make things visible again, but I"ve got the recipe all ready here!"
She tapped with the wooden spoon on the large book which was propped up on the mantelpiece, quite forgetting for the moment its magic properties, and lo and behold! The book disappeared, too. This time she did not laugh. She gave a horrified gasp.
*Oh, whatever have I done? How can I brew a counter-spell from an invisible book? Oh, silly me!"
*Well, couldn"t you find another book?" asked Rosemary.
*You don"t understand," moaned Miss Dibdin. *No two spells are ever alike! You can"t brew a spell from one book and a counter-spell from another. It wouldn"t work!"
*Where did you get your book from?" asked John curiously.
Miss Dibdin put the saucepan back on the ring, felt for the invisible chair, and sank despondently into it. The result looked very odd indeed.
*I found it in the library," she went on. *That was really what started it all. You must have noticed that most reference library users are rather elderly, and find stooping a little difficult? Well, I don"t believe the books on the bottom shelves of the Fallowhithe Library ever get looked at at all, and it was there I found this one, in a dark corner, covered with dust and cobwebs. I thought it would make such an interesting hobby for the summer holidays."
*But I thought you couldn"t take reference books home?" said John.
*Well, of course you can"t, but the girl in charge that day was one of my old pupils, and I persuaded her to let me, just this once. Oh dear, what have I done?"
The invisible basketwork gave a protesting creak as Miss Dibdin heaved miserably in the chair. *Think of the fine I shall have to pay the library! And whatever will Katie say to the disappearance of all her furniture?"
She jumped up and felt anxiously along the mantelpiece to rea.s.sure herself that the book was still there. But it is difficult to pick up a large invisible book which is propped insecurely on a narrow shelf. There was a slithering sound, as the book was dislodged by her fumbling fingers, and it slipped off the mantelpiece. It hit the saucepan handle with such force that the pan overturned, and the liquid slopped on to the hearth. The rag rug promptly disappeared. What sort of noise the book made when it fell on to the hearth rug n.o.body noticed, because of Miss Dibdin"s loud cry of distress.
*It"s all upset. Oh, how clumsy of me! All that lovely vanishing mixture! And after so much trouble!"
*And what a mess!" said John. *It"s all over me. Lend me a hankie, Rosie!"
Rosemary turned and held out her handkerchief. But John was nowhere to be seen. The handkerchief was taken from her limp fingers by his invisible hand, and she watched fascinated, while it seemed to float unaided in the direction of his voice. When it reached the place where his waist would have been, the handkerchief, too, disappeared.
*John, don"t! Oh, do come back!" said Rosemary in distress.
*Come back? What on earth do you mean?" said John.
Rosemary swallowed hard.
*You"ve gone invisible, too!"
16.
Invisible
*Don"t be so silly!" said John crossly.
*It"s not silly, you are invisible!" said Rosemary, and she put out her hand to see if she could feel him. To her relief she could. He felt rea.s.suringly warm and solid.
*Well, you needn"t put your finger in my eye!" he said.
*Oh, my dears, how exciting!" said Miss Dibdin, her depression forgotten. *An invisible boy! Who would have thought I could do it!"
*Well, I certainly wish you hadn"t!" said John. *What on earth is going to happen to me now?"
*It"s a pity I can"t make the counter-spell, of course," said Miss Dibdin, *but I expect you"ll soon get accustomed to it, dear. It may even have its uses, you know!"
*I don"t want to get accustomed to it," said John, sulkily, and then he went on in quite a different voice, *But pr"aps you"re right! I may find it quite useful!" His voice came from somewhere near the hearth rug, as though he was stooping to pick something up.
*Now then," he went on. *Suppose you tell us where the royal kittens are hidden!"
This time his voice came, unexpectedly, a few inches from Miss Dibdin"s ear, and she started uncomfortably.
*They aren"t hidden," she said, *and although I"m grateful to you for taking such an active part in my little experiment, it"s as much as my life is worth to tell you where the kittens are. Personally I"m thankful to be rid of them." She rubbed her scratched hands tenderly as she spoke.
*Well, if you don"t tell us," said John, *I might have to make you invisible, too. There is just about enough of the mixture left at the bottom of the saucepan!"
Rosemary turned to where a paper-thin pale-green disc lay on the hearth rug. She supposed this was all that was left at the bottom of the invisible saucepan. Fascinated, she watched it rise from the floor and heard John"s voice keeping pace with it as it advanced toward the retreating figure of Miss Dibdin. The liquid frothed and winked in a hundred bubbles as John twirled the invisible pan. Miss Dibdin had her back against the wall now, and above her head the mixture had taken the shape of something that is just about to be poured.
*No!" she said, putting up her hands to ward it off. *No! No! I don"t want to be invisible."
*I expect you"d get accustomed to it!" said John. *And it may even have its uses! That"s what you said to me, you know. But I won"t do it if you tell me what you"ve done with the kittens!"
*All right! All right! I"ll tell all I know, if you"ll only put the saucepan down!"
Almost as anxiously as Miss Dibdin, Rosemary watched the green liquid right itself to a disc again and sink slowly on to the table. Miss Dibdin tottered across the room and sat heavily on the bed whose broken, but invisible springs jangled in protest.
*I"ll tell you all I know, but it"s not very much," she said. *Katie went off to sell them both this afternoon, somewhere in Broomhurst, because she said no one was likely to look for them there, and she might as well make a bit of money out of them. When I asked her where she was taking them she just laughed and said something about two pins in a packet, and two peas in a peck. That"s all I know about it," she ended sulkily.
*Thank you!" said John. *Come on, Rosie."
The handle of the door seemed to turn of its own accord, and the door itself swung open. Wide-eyed, Rosemary squeezed through as much as possible to one side. The door closed behind them.
*You needn"t behave as though I had the plague!" said John as they went down the uneven stairs. *Being invisible may have its uses, but it"s jolly unpleasant."
*Oh, John, I"m so sorry!" Rosemary felt for his hand, and in the dimness of the little downstairs room she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug, a thing that ordinarily she would not have dreamed of doing.
*All right! All right!" said John uncomfortably. *You needn"t choke me!" But he said it in a voice that sounded comforted. *Come on, you old Rosie!"
They opened the front door and went out into the sunlit street.
*Let"s get home as quickly as possible," said Rosemary to the sound of John"s feet padding beside her. *I"m glad you didn"t do it, you know. I mean, I don"t like Miss Dibdin much when you can see her, but invisible a"! You don"t think she"ll start brewing any more from that book of hers, do you?"
*She won"t!" said John cheerfully.
*But if she can make it uninvisible again?"
*It wouldn"t help her much if she could, because she hasn"t got it any longer. I picked it up from the hearth rug where it had fallen. But, of course, you couldn"t either of you see it. And, my good girl, if you used your eyes you"d see that I"ve got the remains of the invisible mixture, too! She"s done quite enough mischief with it already."
Rosemary backed away nervously as the pale green circle floated toward her. *Here, you"d better carry the saucepan. This book needs both arms," said John. Rosemary felt gingerly for his arm and slid her fingers down on to the handle.
*But can you read it and find the counter-spell so that you can stop being invisible?" she persisted.
*Of course I can! Let"s find somewhere quiet where we can sit down and I can have a look!"
*I"d much rather go home," said Rosemary.
*I dare say, but you aren"t invisible," said John tartly.
A man in a bowler hat, carrying a brief case, b.u.mped heavily into him and looked after them in a puzzled way.
*Oh, do come on!" said Rosemary. *Poor man, it must be horrible to walk into an invisible boy."
*And it"s pretty horrible for an invisible boy to be walked into by a great hulking visible man. He trod on my foot, but I don"t get any sympathy. Oh, no!"
Rosemary began hotly, *Well anyway a"" and then she stopped. *Oh, don"t let"s squabble. If ever there was a time to stick together, it"s now. Come on. Let"s cross the road and go into the public gardens over there. We can sit on the steps of the statue."
*If somebody thought they were going to sit on a seat and found themselves sitting on an invisible me, I should think they"d go potty," said John gloomily.
Keeping close together they crossed the road. It was a small garden, bright with flower beds. In the centre was the statue of a departed benefactor of Fallowhithe. He stood forever leaning on a marble column. There were several mothers sitting on the wooden seats near by, knitting and gossiping in the sunshine, while their small children slept in prams or played around them.
*How silly marble trousers look!" said Rosemary.
*Never mind the statue!" said John, and pulled her down beside him on the top step. She put out her hand, and although she could not see it she felt the powdery leather of the book"s ancient binding and the little breeze made by the paper as John hurriedly flicked the pages over.
*It"s terribly difficult to read," he said. *The writing is all cramped and spidery. Now then, "Iniquity, invective,"" he read. *Ah, here it is. "Invisibility"."
*Go on, read it!" said Rosemary, and John read out slowly. *"First take the pan or pipkin formerly used for the Brew of Invisibility, and scour it thoroughly. Put in it seven eggsh.e.l.ls full of water, so clear that it doth appear not to be there, and in the water place some transparent substance that by boiling will consume itself. When the water is at the boil, then by the light of a dwindled candle, seethe it until it shall have disappeared, stirring the meantime widdershins, and intoning this incantationa"
*Don"t let"s bother about the incantation now," went on John. *What does "widdershins" mean?"
*Widdershins means counterclockwise, like this," said Rosemary, and she stirred an imaginary saucepan.
*I don"t think it does," said John. *It means the other way."
*No, this way!" said Rosemary impatiently.
*I bet it doesn"t," said John. *And what does "intoning" mean?"
*It means singing, like this," and she proceeded to show him. *More or less li-i-i-ke this, like they do in chur-ur-urch!"
She stood up the better to show what stirring widdershins meant and intoned. *And anyway, I thi-i-i-ink we"d better go home to di-i-i-inner!"
She broke off as a soothing voice behind her said, *Yes, dearie, I should. The very best thing you can do!"
She turned around. Looking up at her were three of the mothers.
*Poor little thing! Talking to herself and waving her arms about," said one. *I noticed her when she came in, and I thought then she looked a bit queer," said another.
*I don"t look queer!" said Rosemary indignantly.
*They ought not to let her out alone!" said a little old woman with a bulging shopping basket. *They do say that talking to yourself is a""
*But I wasn"t talking to myself," Rosemary broke in.
*Then who were you talking to, dear?" said the first woman, in a voice that was meant to soothe, but only maddened Rosemary.
*Why, to John!" she said unwarily. *He"s sitting beside me on the steps here, only you can"t see him, he"s invisible. Oh, don"t pull my skirt!" she went on, ignoring John"s warning tweak, and pushing away the hand that no one could see.
A short fat woman nodded to her tall friend. *I thought so, poor kid," she said. *I"ll go and fetch a taxi, and you and Mrs Podbury see she doesn"t come to any harm while I"m gone. Look after baby, Ida!" she called over her shoulder, and bustled off.
By this time a crowd of people had collected from nowhere, as crowds do, surrounding the statue and agreeing that it was a shame and that something ought to be done about it.
*Now you"ve done it!" said John under cover of the hum of discussion.
*Whatever shall we do?" said Rosemary desperately. Her face was red and her voice shook, but nothing would have made her give way to tears in front of so many people all oozing with unwanted sympathy.
*I don"t know," whispered John. *But I"ll stand by you!" and the hand he slipped into hers gave a heartening squeeze.
From their vantage point on the steps they could see over the heads of the crowd. A taxi had stopped just outside the entrance, and the short fat mother was hurrying toward them.
*Somehow we"ve got to create a diversion!" said John.
*Whatever"s that?" asked Rosemary.
*You"ll soon see!" answered John. *Here, give me the saucepan!"