Carbonel and Calidor
Page 18
Mrs Witherspoon stirred the smouldering embers of the kitchen fire and, warmed by the leaping flames, and mugs of steaming cocoa, but most of all by her kindly smile, John told her who they were, and where they came from.
‘But your poor uncle! Whatever will he think about you being out so late?’
Rosemary wriggled uncomfortably. ‘Well, we’d rather he didn’t find out,’ she said, and looked at Mrs Witherspoon appealingly.
‘And even if he does,’ said John. ‘We are out very early, not very late, which doesn’t sound so bad somehow.’ Mrs Witherspoon’s eyes twinkled.
‘I see what you mean,’ she said. ‘But surely he should be told about the sleep-walking?’
‘Oh, please no!’ said John. ‘We’d much rather not. You see, it’s so difficult to explain.’
‘Then there is something else besides the sleep-walking behind all this?’ Mrs Witherspoon asked, her eyebrows raised. John and Rosemary both nodded. Somehow they felt they could trust her. ‘And it’s a secret?’ They nodded again even more vigorously. After a minute’s frowning thought she went on: ‘Well, whatever it is, I think you must promise me never to do it again, and I won’t tell.’
‘We promise!’ they said. ‘Never again.’
‘Good,’ said Mrs Witherspoon briskly. ‘Now then, if you will wait while I put on some clothes I will take you home. I should not feel easy in my mind if I did not see you safely to the door of Roundels. You can’t possibly walk with bare feet. I’m afraid I have no car, so you will have to make do with standing on the bar at the back of my new tricycle.’
So that was how they went home. Their progress was slow but very stately. The birds, which were twittering sleepily when they started, were in full-throated song when they reached the gate, and said good-bye to Mrs Witherspoon.
‘It’s going to be a beautiful day!’ she said. ‘Come and see me sometime when you come to stay at Highdown.’
‘We should love to!’ said John and Rosemary, and they really meant it.
Miss Dibdin did find just the right house to retire to in Highdown with her friend Mrs Cantrip. They are settled there very happily, and are devoted to their cat, who is called Mattins. (His whiskers straightened in time.) Miss Dibdin has taken a part-time job helping Mr Sprules in his second-hand book shop, and is firm friends with his cat Splodger. Sometimes she wonders how one of his ears got so badly torn, but of course he can’t tell her. Mrs Cantrip is a busy member of the Women’s Institute. They both of them often call on their friend Mrs Witherspoon, the owner of that flourishing private hotel, Tucket Towers.
And Gullion? As no one bothers to listen to his wicked whisperings in Timbuktu, it is to be hoped his power is ended.
Mrs Featherstone sometimes wonders why Rosemary brushes the hearth-rug in the sitting-room with such care every day, as she does not seem interested in any other kind of housework. Even more surprising is that John always helps her when he comes to stay.
BARBARA SLEIGH (1906–1982) worked for the BBC Children’s Hour and is the author of Carbonel and two sequels: The Kingdom of Carbonel and Carbonel and Calidor.
THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK
PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
Copyright © 1978 by Barbara Sleigh
Illustrations copyright © 1978 by Charles Front
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States of America by
New York Review Books, 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.nyrb.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier printing as follows:
Sleigh, Barbara, 1906–
Carbonel and Calidor : being the further adventures of a royal cat / by Barbara Sleigh ; illustrations by Charles Front.
p. cm. — (New York Review Books children’s collection)
Summary: When Calidor rejects his life of ease as heir to the throne of Cat Country to apprentice with the hostile Broomhurst witches, his father, Carbonel, sends his human friends Rosemary and John to talk sense into the royal prince.
[1. Cats—Fiction. 2. Kings, queens, rulers, etc.—Fiction. 3. Witches—Fiction. 4. Human-animal communication Fiction. 5. Duty—Fiction. 6. Fantasy.] I. Front,
Charles, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.S6317Cas 2009
[Fic]—dc22
2009011906
ISBN 978-1-59017-333-6
Cover design by Louise Fili Ltd.
eISBN 978-1-59017-574-3
v1.0
For a complete list of books in the NYRB Classics series, visit www.nyrb.com or write to:
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