.

Miss Andrew wished.

      Michael turned to Jane.

      “Who is George?” he asked.

      “Daddy.”

      “But his name is Mr Banks.”

      “Yes, but his other name is George.”

      Michael sighed.

      “A month is an awfully long time, Jane, isn’t it?”

      “Yes – four weeks and a bit,” said Jane, feeling that a month with Miss Andrew would seem more like a year.

      Michael edged closer to her.

      “I say –” he began in an anxious whisper, “she can’t really make them send Mary Poppins away, can she?”

      “Odd!”

      The word sounded behind them like an explosion.

      They turned. Mary Poppins was gazing after Miss Andrew with a look that could have killed her.

      “Odd!” she repeated, with a long-drawn sniff. “That’s not the word for her. Humph! I don’t know how to bring up children, don’t I? I’m impertinent, incapable, and totally unreliable, am I? We’ll see about that!”

      Jane and Michael were used to threats from Mary Poppins, but today there was a note in her voice they had never heard before. They stared at her in silence, wondering what was going to happen.

      A tiny sound, partly a sigh and partly a whisper, fell on the air.

      “What was that?” said Jane quickly.

      The sound came again, a little louder this time. Mary Poppins cocked her head and listened.

      Again a faint chirping seemed to come from the doorstep.

      “Ah!” cried Mary Poppins triumphantly. “I might have known it!”

      And with a sudden movement, she sprang at the circular object Miss Andrew had left behind and tweaked off the cover.

      Beneath it was a brass bird-cage, very neat and shiny. And sitting at one end of the perch, huddled between his wings, was a small, light-brown bird. He blinked a little as the afternoon light streamed down upon his head. Then he gazed solemnly about him with a round, dark eye. His glance fell upon Mary Poppins, and, with a start of recognition, he opened his beak and gave a sad, throaty, little cheep. Jane and Michael had never heard such a miserable sound.

      “Did she, indeed? Tch, tch tch! You don’t say!” said Mary Poppins, nodding her head sympathetically.

      “Chirp-irrup!” said the bird, shrugging its wings dejectedly.

      “What? Two years? In that cage? Shame on her!” said Mary Poppins to the bird, her face flushing with anger.

      The children stared. The bird was speaking in no language they knew, and yet here was Mary Poppins carrying on an intelligent conversation with him as though she understood.

      “What is it saying—” Michael began.

      “Sh!” said Jane, pinching his arm to make him keep quiet.

      They stared at the bird in silence. Presently he hopped a little way along the perch towards Mary Poppins and sang a note or two in a low, questioning voice.

      Mary Poppins nodded. “Yes – of course I know that field. Was that where she caught you?”

      The bird nodded. Then he sang a quick, trilling phrase that sounded like a question.

      Mary Poppins thought for a moment. “Well,” she said, “it’s not very far. You could do it in about an hour. Flying South from here.”

      The bird seemed pleased. He danced a little on his perch and flapped his wings excitedly. Then his song broke out again, a stream of round, clear notes, as he looked imploringly at Mary Poppins.

      She turned her head and glanced cautiously up the stairs.

      “Will I? What do you think? Didn’t you hear her call me a Young Person? Me!” She sniffed disgustedly.

      The bird’s shoulders shook as though he were laughing.

      Mary Poppins bent down.

      “What are you going to do, Mary Poppins?” cried Michael, unable to contain himself any longer. “What kind of a bird is that?”

      “A Lark,” said Mary Poppins briefly, turning the handle of the little door. “You’re seeing a Lark in a cage for the first time – and the last!”

      And as she said that, the door of the cage swung open. The Lark, flapping his wings, swooped out with a shrill cry and alighted on Mary Poppins’ shoulder.

      “Humph!” she said, turning her head. “That’s an improvement, I should think?”

      “Chirr-up!” agreed the Lark, nodding.

      “Well, you’d better be off,” Mary Poppins warned him. “She’ll be back in a minute.”

      At that the Lark burst into a stream of running notes, flicking his wings at her and bowing his head again and again.

      “There, there!” said Mary Poppins gruffly. “Don’t thank me. I was glad to do it. I couldn’t see a Lark in a cage! Besides, you heard what she called me!”

      The Lark tossed back his head and fluttered his wings. He seemed to be laughing heartily. Then he cocked his head to one side and listened.

      “Oh, I quite forgot!” came a loud voice from upstairs. “I left Caruso outside. On those dirty steps. I must go and get him.”

      Miss Andrew’s heavy-footed tread sounded on the stairs.

      “What?” she called back in reply to some question of Mrs Banks. “Oh, he’s my Lark, my Lark, Caruso! I call him that because he used to be such a beautiful singer. What? No, he doesn’t sing at all now, not since I trapped him in a field and put him in a cage. I can’t think why.”

      The voice was coming nearer, growing louder as it approached.

      “Certainly not!” it called back to Mrs Banks. “I will fetch him myself. I wouldn’t trust one of those impudent children with him. Your banisters want polishing. They should be done at once.”

      Tramp-tramp. Tramp-tramp. Miss Andrew’s steps sounded through the hall.

      “Here she comes!” hissed Mary Poppins. “Be off with you.” She gave her shoulder a little shake.

      “Quickly!” cried Michael anxiously.

      “Oh, hurry!” said Jane.

      With a quick movement the Lark bent his head and pulled out one of his wing feathers with his beak.

      “Chirr-chirr-chirr-irrup!” he sang, and stuck the feather into the ribbon of Mary Poppins’ hat. Then he spread his wings and swept into the air.

      At the same moment Miss Andrew appeared in the doorway.

      “What?” she shouted, when she saw Jane and Michael and the Twins. “Not gone up to bed yet? This will never do. All well-brought-up children –” she looked balefully at Mary Poppins – “should be in bed by five o’clock. I shall certainly speak to your Father.”

      She glanced round.

      “Now, let me see. Where did I leave my—” She broke off suddenly. The uncovered cage, with its open door, stood at her feet. She stared down at it as though she were unable to believe her eyes.

      “Why? When? Where? What? Who?” she spluttered. Then she found her full voice.

      “Who took off that cover?” she thundered. The children trembled at the sound.

      “Who