“Oh, come with me, boys!” begged Mr Winkle. “If I let that Unicorn slip through my fingers, the Head Keeper will never forgive me.”
“No!” said Veritain.
“No!” said Amor.
“I am sorry,” said Florimond, shaking his head. “But we cannot go with any of you.”
“You’ll come, if I have to carry you!” The Policeman strode towards the Princes with an angry gleam in his eye.
“Oh, please don’t touch them!” Jane cried wildly, flinging herself in his way.
“You leave them alone!” screamed Michael, as he seized the Policeman by the leg.
“’Ooligans!” exclaimed Mr Mudge. “I never behaved like that!”
“Let me go, Michael!” the Policeman yelled.
“What shocking conduct! How badly brought up!” cried voices in the crowd.
“Professor, Professor, please do something!” Miss Lark’s voice rose above the din.
“Such goings on!” murmured Mr Winkle. “It’s worse than the Lion House!”
He turned in terror from the scene and knocked against a moving object that was entering the Rose Garden. A creaking wheel passed over his foot and his net became entangled with a large crimson flower.
“Out of my way!” said Mary Poppins, as she disengaged the net from her hat. “And I’ll thank you to remember,” she added, “that I’m not a butterfly!”
“I can see that,” said the Keeper of the Zoological Gardens, as he dragged his foot from under the wheel.
Mary Poppins gave him an icy glare as she thrust him calmly out of her way and tripped towards the fountain.
At the sight of her neat and dignified figure there was a moment’s silence. The crowd gave her a respectful stare. The Match Man took off his cap.
“Good afternoon, Bert!” she said, with a bow. But the ladylike smile froze on her lips as her glance fell upon the children.
“May I ask what you think you’re doing, Jane? And you too, Michael! Let go of that Policeman! Is this a garden or a Cannibal Island?”
“A Cannibal Island!” cried the youngest Prince, laughing with joy as he ran towards her. “At last! At last, Mary Poppins!” he murmured, as he flung his arms round her waist.
“Mary Poppins! Mary Poppins!” cried the elder brothers as they leapt together over the fountain and seized her kid-gloved hands.
“Whin-n-n-e-e-e-h-o-o-o!” The Unicorn gave a happy neigh and, trotting daintily towards her, he touched his horn to her black-buttoned shoe.
Mary Poppins’ eyes darkened.
“Florimond! Veritain! Amor! What are you doing here?”
“Well, the book fell open—”
“At Jane and Michael’s story—”
“So we just jumped into the picture. . .”
The three Princes hung their heads as they all answered together.
“Then you’d better jump out of it – spit-spot! You’re very naughty boys!”
Amor gave her a loving smile.
“And you’re a naughty girl!” he retorted. “Going away and leaving us with never a Word of Warning!”
Michael stared. He loosed his hold on the Policeman’s leg and ran to Amor.
“Do you know Mary Poppins?” he demanded. “And did she do that to you too?” He felt rather jealous of his friend. Would he ever be so brave, he wondered, as to call her a naughty girl?
“Of course we know her. And she’s always doing it – coming and going Without a Word. Oh, don’t be cross with us, Mary Poppins!” Amor looked up with an impish grin. “I see you’ve got a new hat!”
A ghost of a smile crept round her mouth, but she changed it into a sniff.
“Your face is dirty, Amor, as usual!”
And whipping out her lace-edged handkerchief she dabbed it quickly against his tongue, gave his cheek a vigorous rub and tucked the handkerchief into his pocket.
“H’m. That’s more like it,” she said tartly. “Florimond, put your cap on straight. It was always on one side, I remember. And, Veritain, will you never learn? If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice, to tie your laces with double knots. Just look at your slippers!”
Veritain stooped to his velvet shoes and tied the straggling cords.
“Yes – you remember, Mary Poppins!” Florimond straightened the set of his cap. “But, except for Jane and Michael and Bert, you are the only one. All they want is the Unicorn.” He pointed to the watching crowd. “And they can’t even agree about him.”
The Unicorn nodded his silver head and his blue eye blazed with wrath.
“Pooh!” Mary Poppins turned up her nose. “What else could you expect – from them? It’s their misfortune, Florimond. No fault of yours!”
The Policeman blushed as red as a beetroot beneath her scornful gaze.
“I remember my duty!” he said doggedly.
“I remember the public’s entertainment!” Mr Mudge bristled.
“I remember the Head Keeper!” whispered the Keeper of the Zoological Gardens.
“Wait! I remember something else!” The Park Keeper clapped his hand to his brow.
“’Arf a minute – it’s coming back. I can see me old mother readin’ aloud. A silver book. And the cat by the fire. And them. . .” He flung out a hand to the Princes.
“And them and me goin’ ’and in ’and. There was flower and fruit on the same branch and a Unycorn trottin’ through the forest. Oh, what ’as ’appened?” he cried aloud. “Me ’eart is beatin’ the way it used to! I feel like I felt when I was a boy. No Litter, no Bye-laws, no Lord Mayor, and sausages for supper. Oh, now I remember you, Mister – er – Prince. . .”
The Park Keeper turned to Florimond. His sombre face had quite changed. It was gleaming with happiness.
“A sooveneer!” he shouted gaily. “Something for you to remember me by!”
And recklessly he dashed at the flower-beds and snapped off three of the largest roses.
“I shall get into trouble, but what do I care? I’m doin’ it for you!” With a shy and humble gesture, he thrust the flowers at Florimond.
Grave and glad were Florimond’s eyes as he touched the Park Keeper’s cheek.
“Thank you.” He smiled. “I shall keep them always.”
“Aw!” The Park Keeper gave an embarrassed laugh. “You can’t do that. They’ll fade, you know!”
“Oh, no, they won’t!” cried Miss Lark suddenly. “In their country, dear Park Keeper, the roses bloom for ever.”
She turned to the Princes eagerly, with her hands against her heart.
“Oh, how could I have forgotten?” she murmured. “It was yesterday – or the day before! I was wearing a pinafore tied at the back—”
“And button-boots,” put in Veritain.
“And yellow curls with a blue ribbon,” said Amor helpfully. “She does remember!” he cried to his brothers, smiling at Miss Lark.
“And you were everywhere!” she whispered. “Playing beside me in the sunlight, swinging with me on the garden gate. The birds in the trees were you disguised. I stepped over every ant and beetle for fear it might be one of my Princes. I meant to marry a King – I remember – or at least a Caliph’s younger son. And you three were to be always near me. And then – oh, what happened? How did I lose you? Was it really only yesterday? Where are my curls, my yellow curls? Why am I all alone in the world, except for two little dogs?”