The Kingdom of Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh

other shoe into the stream with a loud splash. ‘You can fish that out, as you’re so fond of finding things,’ she said rudely.
    Red with annoyance, John splashed over and pulled out the second shoe.
    â€˜I think you are very ungrateful!’ said Rosemary hotly.
    â€˜It was entirely my fault, dears!’ said the round-about person. ‘I’m sure Katie is very grateful, really. Such a character! She was trying to stop me saying something when she threw her shoe into the stream. My foolish tongue, you know.’ Then,turning to Mrs Cantrip, ‘Such nicely spoken children. Do introduce me, please, Katie dear!’
    Mrs Cantrip sniffed.
    â€˜Boy nuisance!’ she said, nodding toward John. ‘And girl nuisance!’
    Rosemary turned her back on Mrs Cantrip and said, ‘I’m Rosemary, this is my friend John, and we aren’t a nuisance, at least not on purpose.’
    â€˜And my name is Dibdin,’ said the little person, ‘Miss Dorothy Dibdin.’
    â€˜You aren’t Mrs Cantrip’s new lodger, are you?’ asked Rosemary suddenly.
    â€˜Why, how clever of you!’ said Miss Dibdin warily. ‘Just for the summer holidays, you know. Between you and me, it’s not very comfortable, but it has its advantages. It was such a stroke of luck finding it. I always like to have a hobby during the summer – I am a schoolteacher, you know – and Mrs Cantrip is teaching me to –’
    She broke off again as Mrs Cantrip burst into a very loud, artificial cough. ‘There I go again,’ she continued. ‘But no harm done. Such a lovely day! We came here to enjoy the country, to meet some friends and pick a bunch of flowers. You promised to show me where I could find that particularly damaging dodder, dear,’ she said to Mrs Cantrip, and at the same time she rose to her feet and dusted her skirt.
    Mrs Cantrip grunted, but she heaved herself up, pushed her bare feet into her wet shoes with complete unconcern, and muttering something about ‘Bogshott Wood’, started to climb the bank, with her shoes squelching at every step.
    â€˜Good afternoon, children,’ said Miss Dibdin briskly, and followed her up the bank.
    â€˜Exactly as though we were six-year-olds,’ said John, as they watched the two cross the field, the one so tall and untidy and the other so short and trim.
    â€˜Whatever can Mrs Cantrip be teaching her?’ said Rosemary.
    â€˜Search me,’ said John. ‘But you can bet she’s up to no good. Well, it’s nothing to do with us. Come on. We’ve left our picnic things and shoes by the bridge.’
    Since they had reached the bridge earlier in the afternoon, all the little animal voices had been hidden by the chuckling of the stream. Standing on the top of the bank, they became aware of a bird sitting on a swaying twig and calling, ‘No good! No good!’
    â€˜Do you mean Mrs Cantrip?’ asked Rosemary.
    â€˜Ugly pair! Ugly pair!’ sang the bird. Then, with a frightened whirr of wings, it darted off, just as a cat came dashing down the field with three others in hot pursuit. The frightened animal found himselfin the loop of the stream. He paused, looking for some way to cross, but the hesitation lost him the advantage, and his pursuers were upon him. With a yowl and a screech, what had been four cats became one threshing, rolling ball.
    â€˜The poor thing!’ cried Rosemary in distress. ‘It’s three against one! The great cowards! Oh, do be careful, John!’ she said, for John had taken off his coat, and with some idea of protecting his hands, flung it over the spitting threshing animals.
    Whether it was the coat that was responsible or not, the rolling cats, who had been steering a zigzag course toward the stream, reached the edge of the bank, and cats, coat and all bounced down the bank and fell into the water with a splash. There was a screech from all four