Mary Poppins Opens the Door Read Online Free Page B

had slipped through the doorway and was dragging the children up the stairs. "Do you hear me? I'll have the Law on you, bursting into a decent woman's house like a set of Vampires!"

    "Decent!" said Mary Poppins, snorting. "If you're decent I'm a Dromedary!" And she rapped three times on a door at her right.
    "Who's there?" called an anxious voice from within. Jane and Michael trembled with excitement. Perhaps Mr. Twigley was at home, after all!
    "It's me, Cousin Fred. Unlock the door, please!"
    There was a moment's silence. Then the sound of a key being turned in the lock. The door opened and Mary Poppins, pulling the children after her, shut it and locked it again.
    "Let me in—you Pirate!" roared Mrs. Clump, angrily rattling the handle.
    Mary Poppins laughed quietly. The children glanced about them. They were in a large attic littered with scraps of wood, tins of paint and bottles of glue. Every available space in the room was filled with musical instruments. A harp stood in one corner and in another was a pile of drums. Ttumpets and violins hung from the rafters; flutes and tin-whistles were stacked on the shelves. A dusty table by the window was littered with carpenter's tools. And on the edge of the bench was a small polished box with a tiny screw-driver tossed beside it.
    In the middle of the floor stood five half-finished musical boxes. Brightly they shone in their fresh new colours and round them, chalked on the boards in large white letters, were the words
WET PAINT
    The whole attic smelt deliciously of wood-shavings, paint and glue. There was only one thing missing from it. And that was Mr. Twigley.
    "Will you let me in or shall I go for the Police?" shouted Mrs. Clump, banging again. Mary Poppins took no notice. And presently they heard her thumping downstairs, muttering furiously as she went.
    "Has she gone?" a thin voice cackled anxiously.
    "She's gone downstairs and I've locked the door! Now, what have you done with yourself, please, Fred?" Mary Poppins gave an impatient sniff.
    "I've wished, Mary!" chirped the voice again.
    Jane and Michael stared round the dusty attic. Where
could
Mr. Twigley be?
    "Oh, Fred! Don't tell me it's the——! Well, wish again, please, wherever you are! I haven't all day to waste."
    "All right! I'm coming! No need for excitement!"
    The violins played a stave of music. Then, out of the air—as it seemed to the children—came two short legs clad in baggy trousers. They were followed by a body in an old frock-coat. And last of all came a long white beard, a wrinkled face with glasses on its nose and a bald head in a smoking cap.
    "Really, Cousin Fred!" said Mary Poppins crossly. "You're old enough to know better!"
    "Nonsense, Mary!" said Mr. Twigley, beaming. "Nobody's ever old enough to know better! I'm sure you agree with me, young man!" He looked at Michael with his twinkly eyes. And Michael couldn't help twinkling back.
    "But where were you hiding?" he demanded. "You couldn't have just come out of the air."
    "Oh, yes, I could!" said Mr. Twigley. "If I wished," he added, as he skipped round the room.
    "You mean, you just wished—and you disappeared?"
    With a glance at the door, Mr. Twigley nodded.
    "I had to—to get away from
her!
"
    "Why? What would she do to you?" asked Jane.
    "Why? Because she wants to marry me! She wants to get my wishes."
    "Do you get everything you wish for?" asked Michael enviously.
    "Oh, everything. That is, if I wish on the first New Moon, after the Second Wet Sunday, after the Third of May. And she——" Mr. Twigley waved at the door. "
She
wants me to wish for a Golden Palace and Peacock Pie every day for dinner. What would I do with a golden palace? All that I want is——"
    "Be careful, Fred!" warned Mary Poppins.
    Mr. Twigley clapped his hand to his mouth. "Tut, tut! I really must remember! I've used up two wishes already!"
    "How many do you get?" asked Jane.
    "Seven," said Mr. Twigley, sighing. "My Godmother thought that a suitable number. I