“Which is the real me, Mary Poppins? The one in here or the one out there?”
With a bowl of porridge in her hand, Mary Poppins came and stood between them. Each time she breathed, her apron crackled, and the steam from the bowl went up with a puff. In silence she looked at her own reflection and smiled a satisfied smile.
Then: “Is this a riddle?” she demanded, sniffing.
“No, Mary Poppins,” Jane said eagerly. “It’s something I want to know.”
For a moment they thought, as they looked at her, that she might be going to tell them. For her eyes grew soft and she lifted her hand as though to lay it on Jane’s shoulder. Then, apparently, she thought better of it, for she gave her head a scornful toss and turned away to the table.
“I don’t know about you,” she said conceitedly, “but I’m glad to say that I’m real wherever I happen to be! Dress yourself, Michael, if you please! And Jane, you come to breakfast!”
Under the gleam of those steely eyes they hurried to obey her. And by the time breakfast was over and they were sitting on the floor building a Castle out of rubber bricks, they had quite forgotten their reflections. Indeed, had they looked, they would not have found them, for the fire had settled to a rosy glow and the bright flames had gone.
“That’s better!” said Number Seventeen, snuggling closer into the earth.
The warmth from the fire crept through its bones and the house came alive as Mary Poppins went scuttling about it.
Today she seemed even busier than usual. She sorted the clothes and tidied the drawers, sewed on odd buttons and mended socks. She put fresh papers on the shelves, let down the hems of Jane’s and Barbara’s frocks, and stitched new elastic into John’s hat and Michael’s. She collected Annabel’s old clothes and made them into a bundle for Mrs Brill’s niece’s baby. She cleaned out the cupboards, sorted the toys and put the books straight in the bookcases.
“How busy she is! It makes me quite giddy!” said Michael in a whisper.
But Jane said nothing. She gazed at the crackly, bustling figure. And a thought that she could not quite get hold of was wandering round in her mind. Something – was it a memory? – whispered a word that she couldn’t quite catch.
And all through the morning, the Starling sat on the Next Door chimney and screeched his endless song. Every now and then he would dart across the garden and peer through the window at Mary Poppins with bright anxious eyes. And the wind went round and round the house, sighing and crying.
The hours went by and lunch time came. And still Mary Poppins went on bustling like a very tidy tornado. She put fresh daffodils in the jam-jar; she straightened the furniture and shook out the curtains. The children felt the Nursery tremble beneath her ministering hand.
“Will she never stop!” Michael complained to Jane, as he added a room to the Castle.
And at that moment, as though Mary Poppins had heard what he said, she suddenly stood still.
“There!” she exclaimed, as she looked at her handiwork. “It’s as Neat as a Pin. And I hope it remains so!”
Then she took down her best blue coat and brushed it. She breathed on the buttons to make them shine and pinned the starfish brooch on her collar. She tweaked and pulled at her black straw hat till the daisies stood up as stiff as soldiers. Then she took off her wide crackling apron and buckled the snake-skin belt round her waist. The message written on it was clearly visible: “A Present from the Zoo,” it said, in large snaky letters.
“You haven’t worn that for a long, long time,” said Michael, watching with interest.
“I keep it for Best,” she replied calmly, as she twitched the belt into place.
Then she took her umbrella from the corner and polished the parrot-head with beeswax. And after that, with a quiet smile, she plucked the Tape Measure from the mantelpiece and popped it into the pocket of her coat.
Jane lifted her head quickly. Somehow, the sight of that bulging pocket made her feel strangely serious.
“Why don’t you leave the Tape Measure there? It’s perfectly safe, Mary Poppins.”
There was a pause. Mary Poppins appeared to be considering the question.
“I have my reasons,” she said at last, as she gave a superior sniff.
“But it’s always been on the mantelpiece, ever since you came back!”
“That doesn’t mean that it always will be. What’s good for Monday won’t do for Friday,” she replied with her priggish smile.
Jane turned away. What was the matter with her heart? It suddenly felt too big for her chest.
“I’m lonely,” she said in a whisper to Michael, taking care not to look at him.
“You can’t be lonely as long as I’m here!” He put his last brick on the roof of the Castle.
“It’s not that kind of loneliness. I feel I’m going to lose something.”
“Perhaps it’s your tooth,” he said, with interest. “Try it and see if it wobbles.”
Jane shook her head quickly. Whatever it was she was going to lose, she knew it was not a tooth.
“Oh, for just one more brick!” sighed Michael. “Everything’s done but the chimney!”
Mary Poppins came swiftly across the room.
“There you are! That’s what it needs!” she said. And she stooped and put one of her own dominoes in the place where the chimney should be.
“Hooray! It’s completely finished!” he cried, glancing up at her with delight. Then he saw that she had placed the box of dominoes beside him. The sight of them made him feel queerly uneasy.
“You mean. . .” he said, swallowing. “You mean – we may keep them?”
He had always wanted those dominoes. But never before had Mary Poppins allowed him to touch her possessions. What did it mean? It was so unlike her. And suddenly, as she nodded at him, he too felt a pang of loneliness.
“Oh!” he broke out, with an anxious wail. “What’s wrong, Mary Poppins? What can be the matter?”
“Wrong!” Her eyes snapped angrily. “I give you a nice respectable present and that’s all the thanks I get! What’s wrong indeed! I’ll know better next time.”
He rushed at her wildly and clutched her hand. “Oh, I didn’t mean that, Mary Poppins! I – thank you. It was just a sudden idea I had—”
“Those ideas are going to get you into trouble one of these fine bright days. You mark my words!” she snorted. “Now, get your hats, please, all of you! We’ll go for a walk to the Swings.”
At the sight of that familiar glare their anxiety melted away. She was so like her usual outraged self that nothing, they thought, could really be wrong. They flew to get ready, shouting and laughing, and knocking the Castle down as they ran.
The thin Spring sun shone over the Park as they hurried across the Lane. The greyness of the morning had vanished and the moaning wind had gone with it. Green smoke hung around the Cherry Trees where the small new leaves were sprouting. The scent of primroses was in the air and the birds were rehearsing their songs for Summer.
“I’ll race you to the Swings!” shouted Michael.
“We’ll have them all to ourselves!” cried Jane. For nobody else was in the clearing where the five swings stood and waited.