The Match Man gave him a friendly slap. Then he turned to the Princes with a loving look and, falling upon one knee, kissed Florimond's hand.
There was a sudden silence in the Rose Garden. Everybody stared.
"What's the matter with Bert?" the Park Keeper muttered. "'E must 'ave gorn mad!"
For the Match Man had turned to Veritain and Amor and was kissing their hands, too.
"Welcome, my Princes!" he said softly. "I am happy to see you again!"
"Princes, indeed!" the Policeman exploded. "A set of rascals, that's what they are. I found them loitering in the Park in wrongful possession of a fabbilous animal. And I'm taking it in charge!"
"What, that?" The Match Man glanced at the Unicorn and laughed as he shook his head. "You wouldn't be able to catch him, Egbert. He isn't your sort of animal. And what's a Unicorn, anyway, compared with the three of them?"
He turned to the Princes with outstretched arms.
"They've forgotten us, Bert," said Florimond sadly.
"Well, you won't forget me in a hurry," the Policeman put in grimly. "Move away, Bert, you're obstructing the Law. Now, bring that Unicorn along and follow me, all three!"
"Don't you go, lads," urged Mr. Mudge. "Just slip along to the Fair Ground and you and horsie will be treated proper."
"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!"
Michael seized the Policeman by the leg
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 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 comin' 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 s
unlight, swinging with me on the garden gate. The birds in the tree 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?"
Andrew and Willoughby glanced up indignantly. "Except, indeed!" they seemed to say.
"Yes, yes, I'm getting old," said Miss Lark, as she peered through her wisps of hair. "I'll forget you again, my darling Princes! But, oh, do not forget me! What shall I give you to remember me by? I have lost"—she scrabbled in her pockets—"so many of my possessions!" "We will never forget you," said Veritain gently. "And you've given us something already."
He drew his velvet sleeve aside and showed her the glitter at his wrist.
"My bracelet! But it's only glass!"
"No!" cried Veritain. "Rubies! Sapphires!"
He raised his hand above his head and the bracelet shone so bright in the sunset that it dazzled every eye.
"Golly!" the Policeman muttered. "He's stolen the Crown Jewels!"
"Oh!" breathed Miss Lark, as she clasped her hands and gazed at the shining stones.
"I understand," she murmured softly. "Professor, Professor, do you see?"
But the Professor put his hand to his eyes and turned his head away.
"I have seen too much," he said sadly. "I have seen how foolish I am! Books!" he cried, tossing the volume from him. "Magnifying-glasses!" He flung the glass among the roses. "Alas, alas! I have wasted my time. Florimond, Veritain, Amor—I recognise you now!" He turned his tearful face to the Princes.
"Oh, Beauty, Truth and Love," he whispered. "To think that I knew you when I was a lad! To think that I could forget! All day long you ran at my side. And your voices called to me in the dusk—Follow! Follow! Follow! I see it now—I've been looking for wisdom. But wisdom was there and I turned my back. I've been running away from it ever since, trying to find it in books. So far away"—the Professor hid his face in his arm—"that when I met a Unicorn, I imagined I could have him stuffed! Oh, how can I make up for that? I have no rose, no jewels, nothing."
He glanced about him doubtfully and put his hand to his forehead. And as he did so his face cleared. A happy thought had struck him.
"Take this, my child!" he said to Amor, as he plucked the newspaper hat from his brow. "Your way is long and the night will be chilly and you've nothing on your head!"
"Thank you, Professor!" Amor smiled and set the hat at a jaunty angle over his crown of curls. "I hope you will not be cold without it."
"Cold?" the Professor murmured vaguely, as his gaze slipped past the Princes to the snow-white creature on the lawn. He put out an aged trembling hand and the Unicorn rose from the dewy grass and calmly came to his side.
"Forgive me!" the Professor whispered. "It was not I that would have stuffed you. A madman wearing my skin—not I! No, no! I'll never be cold again. I have stroked a Unicorn!"
His fingers touched the milky neck. The Unicorn stood mild and still. His blue eyes did not flicker.
"That's right, Professor!" said the Policeman cheerfully. "No good trying to stuff a h'animal that by rights belongs to the Law!"
"He belongs to the Law," the Professor murmured. "But not the Law you know——"
"The Fair!" insisted Mr. Mudge, elbowing past the Policeman.
"Yes! All is fair where he comes from." The Professor stroked the Unicorn's nose.
"He'll be among the stars of the Zoo," the Zoo Keeper promised breathlessly.
"He'll be among the stars," said the Professor, touching the tip of the Unicorn's horn, "but far, far from the Zoo."
"Exactly, Professor! You're a sensible chap! Now, I've no more time for h'argument. The boys and the beast are under arrest and I'm taking them off to the Police Station!"
The Policeman put out a determined hand and seized the Unicorn's bridle.
"Quick, Florimond!" warned Mary Poppins.
And Florimond, with a single bound, leapt on the Unicorn's back.
Up went Veritain behind him.
"Goodbye, Michael," whispered Amor, hugging him round the waist. Then with a graceful, running leap he landed behind his brothers.
"Oh, do not leave me!" cried Miss Lark. "I may forget again!"
"I won't forget!" said Michael stoutly, waving his hand to Amor.
"Nor I! Oh, never!" echoed Jane, with a long look at Florimond and Veritain. She felt that their faces were in her heart for ever.
"If you remember, we'll come again!" Florimond promised, smiling. "Are you ready, my brothers? We must go!"
"Ready!" the younger Princes cried.
Then one by one they leant sideways and kissed Mary Poppins.
"We'll be waiting for you," said Florimond.
"Do not be long!" urged Veritain.
"Come back to us," said Amor, laughing, "with a tulip in your hat!"
She tried to look stern, but she simply couldn't. Her firm lips trembled into a smile as she gazed at their shining faces.
"Get along with you—and behave yourselves!" she said with surprising softness.
Then she raised her parrot-headed umbrella and touched the Unicorn's flank.
At once he lifted his silver head and pointed his horn at the sky.
"Remember!" cried Florimond, waving his roses. Veritain held his hand aloft and set the bracelet sparkling.
Amor flourished the handkerchief.
"Remember! Remember!" they cried together, as the Unicorn bounded into the air.
The Park seemed to tremble in the fading light as his hooves flashed over the fountain. A streak of colour shone above the spray, a shimmer of velvet and gold. A single moment of moving brightness and after that—nothing. Princes and Unicorn were gone. Only a far faint echo—"Remember!"—came back to the silent watchers. And the pages of the book on the lawn stirred in the evening breeze.
"After them!" the Policeman shouted. "Robbers! Desperadoes!"
He blew his whistle vigorously and dashed across the Rose Garden.
"A trick! A trick!" yelled Mr. Mudge. "The Invisible Horse and his Three Riders! Why, it's better than Sawing a Lady in Half! Come back, my lads, and I'll buy your secret! Was it this way? That way? Where did they go?"
And off he went, dodging among the trees, in his search for the lost Princes.
"Oh, dear," moaned the Keeper of the Zoological Gardens. "Here today and gone tomorrow! Just like the butterflies!"
He gave Mary Poppins a nervous look and hurried away to the Zoo.
For a moment the only sound in the garden was the music of the fountain. Then Miss Lark sighed and broke the silence.
"Why, goodness me—how late it is! Now, I wonder where I left my gloves! And what did I do with my scarf? I seem to have lost my spectacles. Gracious, yes—and my bracelet, too!"
Her eyes widened and she yawned a little as though she were coming out of a dream.
"You gave it to Veritain!" Jane reminded her.
"Veritain? Veritain? Who can that be? It sounds like something out of a story. I expect you are dreaming, Jane, as usual! Andrew and Willoughby—come along! Oh, Chief Professor! How nice to see you! But what are you doing here?"
The Professor gave her a puzzled glance and he, too, yawned a little.
"I—I'm not quite sure," he answered vaguely.
"And without a hat—you must be cold! Come home with me, Professor, do! And we'll all have muffins for tea."
"Muffins? Er—hum. I used to like muffins when I was a lad, but I haven't had one since. And I had a hat this afternoon. Now, what have I done with it?"
"Amor is wearing it!" cried Michael.
"Amor? Is that a friend of yours? He's welcome! It was only paper. But I'm not a bit cold, Miss Lark—er—hum! I have never felt so warm in my life."
The Professor smiled a contented s
mile.
"And I," said Miss Lark with a trill of laughter, "have never felt so happy. I can't think why—but there it is. Come, dearest dogs! This way, Professor!"
And, taking the Professor by the hand, she led him out of the Rose Garden.
Jane and Michael stared after them.
"What is your other—er—hum!—name?" they heard him vaguely asking.
"Lucinda Emily," she replied, as she drew him towards the Gate.
"Eee—ow—oo! I was arf asleep!" The Park Keeper yawned and stretched his arms and glanced around the garden.
"'Ere! Wot's all this?" he demanded loudly. "Someone's been pickin' the flowers!"
"You did it yourself," said Jane, laughing.
"Don't you remember?" Michael reminded him. "You gave them to Florimond."
"What? Me pick a rose? I wouldn't dare! And yet——" The Park Keeper frowned in perplexity. "It's funny. I'm feeling quite brave tonight. If the Lord Mayor himself were to come along I wouldn't so much as tremble. And why shouldn't Florrie Wat's-a-name 'ave them, instead of them dyin' on the bush? Well, I must be gettin' 'ome to me mother. Tch! Tch! Tch! Remember the bye-laws!" The Park Keeper pounced on two dark objects.
"All litter to be placed in the baskets!" he cried, as he bore away the Professor's book and magnifying-glass and dumped them into a litter-basket.
Jane sighed. "They've forgotten already, all of them. Miss Lark, the Professor and now the Park Keeper."
"Yes," agreed Michael, shaking his head.
"And what have you forgotten, pray?" Mary Poppins' eyes were bright in the sunset and she seemed to come back to the Rose Garden from very far away.
"Oh, nothing, Mary Poppins, nothing!" With the happy assurance they ran to her side. As if they could ever forget the Princes and the strange and wonderful visit!
"Then what is that book doing there?" She pointed her black-gloved finger at The Silver Fairy Book.
"Oh, that!" Michael darted to get it.
"Wait for me, Mary Poppins!" he cried, pushing his way through the watching crowd that was still staring up at the sky.
The Match Man took the perambulator and sent it creaking out of the garden. Mary Poppins stood still in the entrance with her parrot umbrella under her arm and her handbag hanging from her wrist.