Free Mary Poppins Opens the Door by P. L. Travers Page A

Africa!" shouted Michael, forgetting his crossness.
    "I'll go fishing!" cried Jane, as she galloped past him.
    Laughing and whooping and waving their hats, they came to the shining water. All round the Lake stood the dusty green benches, and the ducks went quacking along the edge, greedily looking for crusts.
    At the far end of the water stood the battered marble statue of the Boy and the Dolphin. Dazzling white and bright it shone, between the Lake and the sky. There was a small chip off the Boy's nose and a line like a black thread round his ankle. One of the fingers of his left hand was broken off at the joint. And all his toes were cracked.
    There he stood, on his high pedestal, with his arm flung lightly round the neck of the Dolphin. His head, with its ruffle of marble curls, was bent towards the water. He gazed down at it thoughtfully with wide marble eyes. The name NELEUS was carved in faded gilt letters at the base of the pedestal.
    "How bright he is today!" breathed Jane, blinking her eyes at the shining marble.
    And it was at that moment that she saw the Elderly Gentleman.
    He was sitting at the foot of the statue, reading a book with the aid of a magnifying glass. His bald head was sheltered from the sun by a knotted silk handkerchief, and lying on the bench beside him was a black top-hat.

    The children stared at the curious figure with fascinated eyes.
    "That's Mary Poppins' favourite seat! She
will
be cross!" exclaimed Michael.
    "Indeed? And when was I ever cross?" her voice enquired behind him.
    The remark quite shocked him. "Why, you're
often
cross, Mary Poppins!" he said. "At least fifty times a day!"

    "Never!" she said with an angry snap. "I have the patience of a Boa Constrictor! I merely Speak My Mind!"
    She flounced away and sat down on a bench exactly opposite the Statue. Then she glared across the Lake at the Elderly Gentleman. It was a look that might have killed anybody else. But the Elderly Gentleman was quite unaffected. He went on poring over his book and took no notice of anyone. Mary Poppins, with an infuriated sniff, took her mending-bag from the perambulator and began to darn the socks.
    The children scattered round the sparkling water.
    "Here's my boat!" shrieked Michael, snatching a piece of coloured paper from a litter basket.
    "I'm fishing," said Jane, as she lay on her stomach and stretched her hand over the water. She imagined a fishing-rod in her fingers and a line running down, with a hook and a worm. After a little while, she knew, a fish would swim lazily up to the hook and give the worm a tweak. Then, with a jerk, she would land him neatly and take him home in her hat. "Well, I never!" Mrs. Brill would say. "It's just what we needed for supper!"
    Beside her the Twins were happily paddling. Michael steered his ship through a terrible storm. Mary Poppins sat primly on her bench and rocked the perambulator with one foot. Her silver needle flashed in the sunlight. The Park was quiet and dreamy and still.
    Bang!
    The Elderly Gentleman closed his book and the sound shattered the silence.
    "Oh, I say!" protested a shrill sweet voice. "You might have let me finish!"
    Jane and Michael looked up in surprise. They stared. They blinked. And they stared again. For there, on the grass before them, stood the little marble statue. The marble Dolphin was clasped in his arms and the pedestal was quite empty.
    The Elderly Gentleman opened his mouth. Then he shut it and opened it again.
    "Er—did you say something?" he said at last, and his eyebrows went up to the top of his head.
    "Yes, of course I did!" the Boy replied. "I was reading over your shoulder there—" he pointed towards the empty pedestal, "and you closed the book too quickly. I wanted to finish the Elephant story and see how he got his TVunk."
    "Oh, I
beg
your pardon," said the Elderly Gentleman. "I had no idea—er—of such a thing. I always stop reading at four, you see. I have to get home to my Tea."
    He rose and folded the