He alighted neatly on the edge of the cradle and steadied the Fledgling beside him.
The young bird stared about him with round, inquisitive eyes. The Starling hopped along to the pillow.
"Annabel, dear," he began, in a husky, wheedling voice, "I'm very partial to a nice, crisp, crunchy piece of Arrowroot Biscuit." His eyes twinkled greedily. "You haven't one about you, I suppose?"
The curled head stirred on the pillow.
"No? Well, you're young yet for biscuits, perhaps. Your sister Barbara — nice girl, she was, very generous and pleasant — always remembered me. So if, in the future, you could spare the old fellow a crumb or two—"
"Of course I will," said Annabel from the folds of the blanket.
"Good girl!" croaked the Starling approvingly. He cocked his head on one side and gazed at her with his round bright eye. "I hope," he remarked politely, "you are not too tired after your journey."
Annabel shook her head.
"Where has she come from — out of an egg?" cheeped the Fledgling suddenly.
"Huh-huh!" scoffed Mary Poppins. "Do you think she's a sparrer?"
The Starling gave her a pained and haughty look.
"Well, what is she, then? And where did she come from?" cried the Fledgling shrilly, flapping his short wings and staring down at the cradle.
"You tell him, Annabel!" the Starling croaked.
Annabel moved her hands inside the blanket.
"I am earth and air and fire and water," she said softly. "I come from the Dark where all things have their beginning."
"Ah, such dark!" said the Starling softly, bending his head to his breast.
"It was dark in the egg, too," the Fledgling cheeped.
"I come from the sea and its tides," Annabel went on. "I come from the sky and its stars, I come from the sun and its brightness—"
"Ah, so bright!" said the Starling, nodding.
"And I come from the forests of earth."
As if in a dream, Mary Poppins rocked the cradle — to-and-fro, to-and-fro with a steady swinging movement.
"Yes?" whispered the Fledgling.
"Slowly I moved at first," said Annabel, "always sleeping and dreaming. I remembered all I had been and I thought of all I shall be. And when I had dreamed my dream I awoke and came swiftly."
She paused for a moment, her blue eyes full of memories.
"And then?" prompted the Fledgling.
"I heard the stars singing as I came and I felt warm wings about me. I passed the beasts of the jungle and came through the dark, deep waters. It was a long journey."
Annabel was silent.
The Fledgling stared at her with his bright inquisitive eyes.
Mary Poppins' hand lay quietly on the side of the cradle. She had stopped rocking.
"A long journey, indeed!" said the Starling softly, lifting his head from his breast. "And, ah, so soon forgotten!"
Annabel stirred under the quilt.
"No!" she said confidently. "I'll never forget."
"Stuff and Nonsense! Beaks and Claws! Of course you will! By the time the week's out you won't remember a word of it — what you are or where you came from!"
Inside her flannel petticoat Annabel was kicking furiously.
"I will! I will! How could I forget?"
"Because they all do!" jeered the Starling harshly. "Every silly human except—" he nodded his head at Mary Poppins—"her! She's Different, she's the Oddity, she's the Misfit—"
"You Sparrer!" cried Mary Poppins, making a dart at him.
But with a rude laugh he swept his Fledgling off the edge of the cradle and flew with him to the window-sill.
"Tipped you last!" he said cheekily, as he brushed by. "Hullo, what's that?"
There was a chorus of voices outside on the landing and a clatter of feet on the stairs.
"I don't believe you! I won't believe you!" cried Annabel wildly.
And at that moment Jane and Michael and the Twins burst into the room.
"Mrs. Brill says you've got something to show us!" said Jane, flinging off her hat.
"What is it?" demanded Michael, gazing round the room.
"Show me! Me, too!" shrieked the Twins.
Mary Poppins glared at them. "Is this a decent nursery or the Zoological gardens?" she enquired angrily. "Answer me that!"
"The Zoo — er — I mean—" Michael broke off hurriedly for he had caught Mary Poppins' eye. "I mean a Nursery," he said lamely.
"Oh, look, Michael, look!" Jane cried excitedly. "I told you something important was happening! It's a New Baby! Oh, Mary Poppins, can I have it to keep?"
Mary Poppins, with a furious glance at them all, stooped and lifted Annabel out of the cradle and sat down with her in the old arm-chair.
"Gently, please, gently!" she warned, as they crowded about her. "This is a baby, not a battle-ship!"
"A boy-baby?" asked Michael.
"No, a girl — Annabel."
Michael and Annabel stared at each other. He put his finger into her hand and she clutched it tightly.
"My doll!" said John, pushing up against Mary Poppins' knee.
"My rabbit!" said Barbara, tugging at Annabel's shawl.
"Oh!" breathed Jane, touching the hair that the
She sat down in the old arm-chair
wind had curled. "How very small and sweet. Like a star. Where did you come from, Annabel?"
Very pleased to be asked, Annabel began her story again.
"I came from the Dark—" she recited softly.
Jane laughed. "Such funny little sounds!" she cried. "I wish she could talk and tell us."
Annabel stared.
"But I am telling you," she protested, kicking.
"Ha-ha!" shrieked the Starling rudely from the window. "What did I say? Excuse me laughing!"
The Fledgling giggled behind his wing.
"Perhaps she came from a Toy-Shop," said Michael.
Annabel, with a furious movement, flung his finger from her.
"Don't be silly!" said Jane. "Doctor Simpson must have brought her in his little brown bag!"
"Was I right or was I wrong?" The Starling's old dark eyes gleamed tauntingly at Annabel.
"Tell me that!" he jeered, flapping his wings in triumph.
But for answer Annabel turned her face against Mary Poppins' apron and wept. Her first cries, thin and lonely, rang piercingly through the house.
"There! There!" said the Starling gruffly. "Don't take on! It can't be helped. You're only a human child after all. But next time, perhaps, you'll believe your Betters! Elders and Betters! Elders and Betters!" he screamed, prancing conceitedly up and down.
"Michael, take my feather duster please, and sweep those birds off the sill!" said Mary Poppins ominously.
A squawk of amusement came from the Starling.
"We can sweep ourselves off, Mary Poppins, thank you! We were just going, anyway! Come along, Boy!"
And with a loud clucking chuckle he flicked the Fledgling over the sill and swooped with him through the window….
In a very short time, Annabel settled down comfortably to life in Cherry Tree Lane. She enjoyed being the centre of attraction and was always pleased when somebody leant over her cradle and said how pretty she was, or how good or sweet-tempered.
"Do go on admiring me!" she would say, smiling. "I like it so much!"
And then they would hasten to tell her how curly her hair was and how blue her eyes, and Annabel would smile in such a satisfied way that they would cry, "How intelligent she is! You would almost think she understood!"
But that always annoyed her and she would turn away in disgust at their foolishness. Which was silly because when she was disgusted she looked so charming that they became more foolish than ever.
She was a week old before the Starling returned. Mary Poppins, in the dim glow of the night-light, was gently rocking the cradle when he appeared.