“Oh, poor Miss Lark!” said Jane, hurrying across the road. She could not help feeling sorry because Miss Lark looked so upset.
But it was Michael who really comforted Miss Lark. Just as he was going in at the gate of Number Seventeen, he looked down the Lane and there he saw—
“Why, there’s Andrew, Miss Lark. See, down there – just turning Admiral Boom’s corner!”
“Where, where? Show me!” said Miss Lark breathlessly, and she peered in the direction in which Michael was pointing.
And there, sure enough, was Andrew, walking as slowly and as casually as though nothing in the world was the matter; and beside him waltzed a huge dog that seemed to be half an Airedale and half a Retriever, and the worst half of both.
“Oh, what a relief!” said Miss Lark, sighing loudly. “What a load off my mind!”
Mary Poppins and the children waited in the Lane outside Miss Lark’s gate. Miss Lark herself and her two maids leant over the fence, Robertson Ay, resting from his labours, propped himself up with his broom-handle, and all of them watched in silence the return of Andrew.
He and his friend marched sedately up to the group, whisking their tails jauntily and keeping their ears well cocked, and you could tell by the look in Andrew’s eye that, whatever he meant, he meant business.
“That dreadful dog!” said Miss Lark, looking at Andrew’s companion. “Shoo! Shoo! Go home!” she cried.
But the dog just sat down on the pavement and scratched his right ear with his left leg and yawned.
“Go away! Go home! Shoo, I say!” said Miss Lark, waving her arms angrily at the dog.
“And you, Andrew,” she went on, “come indoors this minute! Going out like that – all alone and without your overcoat. I am very displeased with you!”
Andrew barked lazily, but did not move.
“What do you mean, Andrew? Come in at once!” said Miss Lark.
Andrew barked again.
“He says,” put in Mary Poppins, “that he’s not coming in.”
Miss Lark turned and regarded her haughtily. “How do you know what my dog says, may I ask? Of course he will come in.”
Andrew, however, merely shook his head and gave one or two low growls.
“He won’t,” said Mary Poppins. “Not unless his friend comes, too.”
“Stuff and nonsense,” said Miss Lark crossly. “That can’t be what he says. As if I could have a great hulking mongrel like that inside my gate.”
Andrew yapped three or four times.
“He says he means it,” said Mary Poppins. “And what’s more, he’ll go and live with his friend unless his friend is allowed to come and live with him.”
“Oh, Andrew, you can’t – you can’t, really – after all I’ve done for you and everything!” Miss Lark was nearly weeping.
Andrew barked and turned away. The other dog got up.
“Oh, he does mean it!” cried Miss Lark. “I see he does. He is going away.” She sobbed a moment into her handkerchief, then she blew her nose and said:
“Very well, then, Andrew. I give in. This – this common dog can stay. On condition, of course, that he sleeps in the coal-cellar.”
“He insists, ma’am, that that won’t do. His friend must have a silk cushion just like his and sleep in your room too. Otherwise he will go and sleep in the coal-cellar with his friend,” said Mary Poppins.
“Andrew, how could you?” moaned Miss Lark. “I shall never consent to such a thing.”
Andrew looked as though he were preparing to depart. So did the other dog.
“Oh, he’s leaving me!” shrieked Miss Lark. “Very well, then, Andrew. It will be as you wish. He shall sleep in my room. But I shall never be the same again, never, never. Such a common dog!”
She wiped her streaming eyes and went on:
“I should never have thought it of you, Andrew. But I’ll say no more, no matter what I think. And this – er – creature – I shall have to call Waif or Stray or— ”
At that the other dog looked at Miss Lark very indignantly, and Andrew barked loudly.
“They say you must call him Willoughby and nothing else,” said Mary Poppins. “Willoughby being his name.”
“Willoughby! What a name! Worse and worse!” said Miss Lark despairingly. “What is he saying now?” For Andrew was barking again.
“He says that if he comes back you are never to make him wear overcoats or go to the Hairdresser’s again – that’s his last word,” said Mary Poppins.
There was a pause.
“Very well,” said Miss Lark at last. “But I warn you, Andrew, if you catch your death of cold – don’t blame me!”
And with that she turned and walked haughtily up the steps, sniffing away the last of her tears.
Andrew cocked his head towards Willoughby as if to say: “Come on!” and the other two of them waltzed side by side slowly up the garden path, waving their tails like banners, and followed Miss Lark into the house.
“He isn’t a ninkypoop after all, you see,” said Jane, as they went upstairs to the nursery and Tea.
“No,” agreed Michael. “But how do you think Mary Poppins knew?”
“I don’t know,” said Jane. “And she’ll never, never tell us. I am sure of that. . .”
Chapter Five
THE DANCING COW
JANE, WITH HER head tied up in Mary Poppins’ bandanna handkerchief, was in bed with earache.
“What does it feel like?” Michael wanted to know.
“Like guns going off inside my head,” said Jane.
“Cannons?”
“No, pop-guns.”
“Oh,” said Michael. And he almost wished he could have earache, too. It sounded so exciting.
“Shall I tell you a story out of one of the books?” said Michael, going to the bookshelf.
“No. I just couldn’t bear it,” said Jane, holding her ear with her hand.
“Well, shall I sit at the window and tell you what is happening outside?”
“Yes, do,” said Jane.
So Michael sat all the afternoon on the window seat telling her everything that occurred in the Lane. And sometimes his accounts were very dull and sometimes very exciting.
“There’s Admiral Boom!” he said once. “He has come out of his gate and is hurrying down the Lane. Here he comes. His nose is redder than ever and he’s wearing a top hat. Now he is passing Next Door—”
“Is he saying ‘Blast my gizzard!’?” enquired Jane.
“I can’t hear. I expect so. There’s Miss Lark’s second housemaid in Miss Lark’s garden. And Robertson Ay is in our garden, sweeping up the leaves and looking at her over the fence. He is sitting down now, having a rest.”
“He has a weak heart,” said Jane.
“How do you know?”
“He told me. He said his doctor said he was to do as little as possible. And I heard Daddy say if Robertson Ay does what his doctor told him to he’ll sack him. Oh, how it bangs and bangs!” said Jane, clutching her ear again.
“Hulloh!” said Michael excitedly from the window.
“What is it?” cried Jane, sitting up. “Do tell me.”