"Now!" cried the Keeper, who was hoarse with shouting. "Now we come to the rockets!"
All the other fireworks had gone. Nothing remained in the nobbly parcel except three long black sticks.
"No you don't!" said the Sweep, as the Keeper snatched them. "Share and share. That's fair!" He gave the Keeper one rocket and kept the others for himself and the children.
"Make way, make way!" said the Keeper importantly, as he lit the fuse at the candle flame and stuck the stick in the ground.
Hissing and guttering, the spark ran down like a little golden thread. Then — whoop! went the stick as it shot away. Up in the sky the children heard a small faraway bang. And a swirl of red-and-blue stars broke out and rained upon the Park.
"Oh!" cried the children. And "Oh!" cried the Sweep. For that is the only word anyone can say when a rocket's stars break out.
Then it was the Sweep's turn. The candle-light gleamed on his black face as he lit the fuse of his rocket. Then came a whoop and another bang and white-and-green stars spread over the sky like the ribs of a bright umbrella. And again the watchers all cried "Oh!" and sighed for sheer joy.
"It's our turn now!" cried Jane and Michael. And their fingers trembled as they lit the fuse. They pressed the stick down into the earth and stepped back to watch. The thread of golden fire ran down. Whe-e-e-ew! Up went the stick with a singing sound, up to the very top of the sky. And Jane and Michael held their breath as they waited for it to burst.
At last, far away and very faint, they heard the little bang.
Now for the stars, they thought to themselves.
But — alas! — nothing happened.
"Oh!" said everyone again — not for joy this time, but for disappointment. For no stars broke from the third rocket. There was nothing but darkness and the empty sky.
"Tticksy — that's what they are!" said the Sweep. "There are some as just doesn't go off! Well, come on home, all. There's no good staring. Nothing will come down now!"
"Closing Time! Everyone out of the Park!" cried the Park Keeper importantly.
But Jane and Michael took no notice. They stood there watching, hand in hand. For their hopeful eyes had noticed something that nobody else had seen. Up in the sky a tiny spark hovered and swayed in the darkness. What could it be? Not the stick of the rocket, for that must have fallen long ago. And certainly not a star, they thought, for the little spark was moving.
"Perhaps it's a special kind of rocket that has only one spark," said Michael.
"Perhaps," Jane answered quietly, as she watched the tiny light.
They stood together, gazing upwards. Even if there was only one spark they would watch till it went out. But, strangely enough, it did not go out. In fact, it was growing larger.
"Let's get a move on!" urged the Sweep. And again the Park Keeper cried:
"Closing Time!"
But still they waited. And still the spark grew ever larger and brighter. Then suddenly Jane caught her breath. And Michael gave a gasp. Oh, was it possible—? Could it be—? they silently asked each other.
Down came the spark, growing longer and wider. And as it came, it took on a shape that was strange and also familiar. Out of the glowing core of light emerged a curious figure — a figure in a black straw hat and a blue coat trimmed with silver buttons — a figure that carried in one hand something that looked like a carpet bag, and in the other — oh, could it be true? — a parrot-headed umbrella.
Behind them the Matchman gave a cry and ran through the Park Gates.
The curious figure was drifting now to the tops of the naked trees. Its feet touched the highest bough of an oak and stepped down daintily through the branches. It stood for a moment on the lowest bough and balanced itself neatly.
Jane and Michael began to run and their breath broke from them in a happy shout.
"Mary Poppins! Mary Poppins! Mary Poppins!" Half-laughing, half-weeping, they flung themselves upon her.
"You've c-come b-back, at 1-last!" stammered Michael excitedly, as he clutched her neatly shod foot. It was warm and bony and quite real and it smelt of Black Boot-polish.
"We knew you'd come back. We trusted you!" Jane seized Mary Poppins' other foot and dragged at her cotton stocking.
Mary Poppins' mouth crinkled with the ghost of a smile. Then she looked at the children fiercely.
"I'll thank you to let go my shoes!" she snapped. "I am not an object in a Bargain Basement!"
She shook them off and stepped down from the tree, as John and Barbara, mewing like kittens, rushed over the grass towards her.
"Hyenas!" she said with an angry glare, as she loosened their clutching fingers. "And what, may I ask, are you all doing — running about in the Park at night and looking like Blackamoors?"
Quickly they pulled out handkerchiefs and began to rub their cheeks.
"My fault, Miss Poppins," the Sweep apologised. "I been sweeping the Drawing-room chimbley."
"Somebody will be sweeping you, if you don't look out!" she retorted.
"But-but! Glog-glog! Er-rumph! Glug-glug!" Speechless with astonishment, the Park Keeper blocked their path.
"Out of my way, please!" said Mary Poppins, haughtily brushing him aside as she pushed the children in front of her.
"This is the Second Time!" he gasped, suddenly finding his voice. "First it's a Kite and now it's a — You can't do things like this, I tell you! It's against the Law. And, furthermore, it's all against Nature."
Out of the glowing core of light emerged a curious figure
He flung out his hand in a wild gesture and Mary Poppins popped into it a small piece of cardboard.
"Wot's this?" he demanded, turning it over.
"My Return Ticket," she calmly replied.
And Jane and Michael looked at each other and nodded wisely together.
"Ticket — wot ticket? Buses have tickets and so do trains. But you came down on I-don't-know-what! Where did you come from? 'Ow did you get 'ere? That's what I want to know!"
"Curiosity Killed a Cat!" said Mary Poppins primly. She pushed the Park Keeper to one side and left him staring at the little green ticket as though it were a ghost.
The children danced and leapt about her as they came to the Park Gates.
"Walk quietly, please," she told them crossly. "You are not a School of Porpoises! And which of you, I'd like to know, has been playing with lighted candles?"
The Matchman scrambled up from his knees.
"I lit it, Mary," he said eagerly. "I wanted to write you a—" He waved his hands. And there on the pavement, not quite finished, was the one word
WELCOM
Mary Poppins smiled at the coloured letters. "That's a lovely greeting, Bert," she said softly.
The Matchman seized her black-gloved hand, and looked at her eagerly. "Shall I see you on Thursday, Mary?" he asked.
She nodded. "Thursday, Bert," she said. Then she flung a withering look at the children. "No dawdling, if you please!" she commanded, as she hurried them across the Lane to Number Seventeen.
Up in the Nursery Annabel was screaming her head off. Mrs. Banks was running along the hall, calling out soothing phrases. As the children opened the Front Door, she gave one look at Mary Poppins, and collapsed upon the stairs.
"Can it be you, Mary Poppins?" she gasped.
"It can, ma'am," Mary Poppins said calmly.