Five Have Plenty of Fun (5 page)

Berta put her down, and the little poodle stood there, poised on her dainty feet like a bal et dancer about to perform. Everyone but George exclaimed in delight.

„She"s a poppet!"

„Sally! Sal y, you"re a pet!"

„Oh, a poodle! I do love poodles! They look so knowing."

Timmy stood by George, sniffing hard to get the smel of this new dog. George had her hand on his collar in case he sprang. His tail was as stiff as a ramrod.

The poodle suddenly saw him. She stared at him out of bright little eyes, quite unafraid.

Then she pul ed away from Berta"s hand and trotted right over to Timmy, her funny little tail wagging merrily.

Timmy backed a little in surprise. The poodle danced al round him on her toes, and a little whimpering bark, which said as plainly as possible, I want to play with you!

Timmy sprang. He leapt in the air and came down with a thud on his big paws, and the little poodle dodged. Timmy"s tail began to wag wildly. He sprang again in play, and almost knocked the little poodle over. He barked as if to say „Sorry, I didn"t mean that!"

Then he and the poodle played a most ridiculous game of dodge and run, and although one or two chairs went flying nobody minded - they were all laughing so much at the sight of the quick little poodle leading Timmy such a dance.

At last Sal y was tired and sat down in a corner. Timmy pranced about in front of her, showing off. Then he went up to her and sniffed her nose. He licked it gently, and then lay down in front of her, gazing at her adoringly.

Anne gave a little squeal of laughter. „He"s gazing at Sally exactly as he gazes at you, George!" she cried.

But George was not at all pleased. In fact she was quite astounded. To think that Timmy should welcome another dog! To think that he should behave like this when she had told him to do the opposite!

„Aren"t they sweet together?" said Berta, pleased. „I thought Timmy would like Sal y. Of course Sally is a pedigree dog, and cost a lot of money - and Timmy"s only a mongrel. I expect he thinks she"s wunnerful."

„Oh, Tim may be a mongrel, but he"s absolutely wunnerful too," said Dick, hastily, pronouncing the word like Berta, to try and get a laugh. He saw George"s scowl, and knew how cross she felt at hearing her beloved Timmy compared with a pedigree dog.

„He"s a magnificent fel ow, aren"t you, Timmy?" went on Dick. „Sal y may be a darling, but you"re worth more than a hundred darlings, aren"t you?"

„I think he"s beautiful," said Berta, looking down at Timmy. „He"s got the loveliest eyes I ever did see."

George began to feel a little better. She cal ed Timmy. „You"re making rather a fool of yourself," she said to him.

„Now that Timmy and Sal y are going to be friends, can I have Sal y to sleep on my bed at night, like George has Timmy?" said Berta. „Please say yes, Aunt Fanny."

„No," said George at once. „Mother, I won"t have that. I won"t!"

„Well, we"ll see what we can do about it," said her mother. „Sal y was quite happy in the kennel last night, I must say."

„I"m going to have her sleep with me," said Berth, scowling at George. „My father wil pay you a lot of money to make me happy. He told me he would."

„Don"t be sil y, Berta," said Aunt Fanny, firmly. „This isn"t a question of money. Now, leave this for a little while, please, and go and do your jobs, all of you. And then we must consider your father"s letter, Berta, and see exactly what he wants done. We must certainly try to follow his advice about you."

„But I don"t want to..." began Berta, and then felt a firm hand on her arm. It was Julian.

„Come on, kid," he said. „Be your age! Remember you"re a guest here and put on a few of your best manners. We like American children - but not spoilt ones!"

Berta had quite a shock to hear Julian speaking like this. She looked up at him and he grinned down at her. She felt near tears, but she smiled back.

„You haven"t any brothers to keep you in your place," said Julian, linking his arm in hers.

„Well, from now on, while you"re here, Dick and I are your brothers, and you"ve got to toe the line, just like Anne. See? What about it?"

Berta felt that there was nothing in the world she would like better than having Julian for a brother! He was big and tall and had twinkling kindly eyes that made Berta feel he was as responsible and trustable as her father.

Aunt Fanny smiled to herself. Julian always knew the best thing to say and do. Now he would take Berta in hand and see that she didn"t upset the household too much. She was glad. It wasn"t easy to run a big family like this, with a scientist husband to cope with, unless everyone pul ed together!

„You go and help Aunt Fanny with the beds," said Julian to Berta. „And take your Sal y-dog with you. She"s great! But so is Timmy, and don"t you forget it!"

Peace reigned in the house for a little while. George and Anne went to help the cook with the washing-up. Joan was pleased, because with eight people in the house, including herself, there was a lot to do.

She had been very astonished that morning to find a fifth child added to the household, but had been told that after breakfast she could go into the sitting-room and hear an explanation. Joan must certainly be in the secret too!

Upstairs Berta was helping with the beds - not very successful y because she was not used to doing things for herself. But she was very wil ing to learn and Aunt Fanny was quite pleased with her. Timmy and Sal y darted about together and made things rather more dificult than they need have been, popping under beds and out again at top speed.

„I"m glad Timmy likes Sally," said Berta. „I knew he would. I can"t think why George thought he wouldn"t. George is funny, I think."

„Not real y," said Aunt Fanny. „She hasn"t any brothers or sisters to rub off her corners, and she didn"t even know her three cousins til a few years ago, or go to school. Lonely people aren"t so easy to get on with as others - but she is great fun now, as you wil soon find out."

„I"m an only child too," said Berta. „But I"ve always had plenty of other children to play with. My Pops saw to that. He"s wunnerful - I mean wonDERful. I"l say that word

“wonDERful” twenny times, then maybe, I"l get it right."

„Well, say the word “twenty” as wel !" said Aunt Fanny. „It has a letter T at the end as well as at the beginning, you know. It"s “twenTY” not “twenny”. But don"t make yourself too English. It"s nice to have a change!"

„WonDERful, wonDERful, wonDERful! TwenTY, twenTY!" chanted Berta, as she made the beds. Dick looked into the room and chuckled.

„Great snakes!" he said, with a grin, and an American accent. „You shore are wunnerful, baby!"

„Don"t be so sil y, Dick," said his aunt, laughing. „Now - I think we"ve finished al we have to do, Berta. We"ll go downstairs and have a conference. Tell the others, wil you?"

Berta, followed closely by Sal y, who was also followed closely by an adoring Timmy, went to tell Dick and Julian, and then George and Anne. George was not too pleased with Timmy.

„Where have you been?" she said. „Can"t you stop running about after Sal y? She"ll get very very tired of you!"

„Wuff!" said Sal y, in a high little bark, not at all like Timmy"s deep „Woof!"

Soon all five children and the two dogs, and also Joan, were in the sitting-room with Aunt Fanny. Berta began to look a little nervous. Aunt Fanny had the letter that Berta"s father had sent. She did not read it out to the children, but told them what was in it. She also explained to Joan about Berta.

„Joan, you have always known what important work the master does," she said. „Well, Miss Berta"s father does the same kind of work in America, and he and the master are working on a great new scheme together."

„Oh yes, Mam," said Joan, very much interested.

„Berta"s father has been warned by the police that it is possible Berta may be kidnapped and held to ransom, not for money, but for the scientific secrets that he knows," went on Aunt Fanny. „So she has been sent to us to be kept safe for three weeks. By that time the scheme wil be finished and made public. Berta is going to the same school as Miss Anne and Miss George, and it is a good idea to let them know one another first."

Joan nodded. „I understand that, Mam," she said. „I think we can keep Miss Berta safe, don"t you?"

„Yes," said Aunt Fanny. „But her father has now put up some further ideas that he wants us to follow. He says it would be best to disguise her as a boy..."

„Jolly good idea," interrupted Dick.

„And to give her another name - a boy"s name," said Aunt Fanny. „He wants her to have her hair cut short and..."

„Oh please not that!" begged Berta, shaking back her fair, wavy hair. „I"d hate it. Girls with short hair like boys look so sil y, they..."

Anne nudged her and frowned. Berta stopped hurriedly, remembering that George had curly hair cut as short as any boy.

„I think we"l have to do what your father says," said Aunt Fanny. „This is very important, Berta. You see, if anyone should come here looking for you, thinking of kidnapping, they would never recognize you if you were looking exactly like a boy."

„But my hair," said Berta, almost in tears. „How could Pops say I"m to have my hair off? He always said it was wunnerful!"

Nobody liked to point out that there was a D in wonderful just then! Berta was really so very upset about her hair.

„Your hair wil grow quickly enough," said Aunt Fanny.

„Her head"s a good shape," said Julian, looking at it consideringly. „She should look nice with short hair."

Berta cheered up. If Julian thought that, then it wouldn"t be so bad.

„But what about clothes?" she said, remembering this point with a look of horror. „Girls look frightful in boys" clothes. Pops always said so til now."

„You won"t look any worse than George does," said Dick. „She"s got on a boy"s jersey, boy"s jeans and boy"s shoes this very minute!"

„I think she looks awful," said Berta, obstinately, and George scowled.

„Well, I think you"d look horrible," she said. „You wouldn"t even look like a boy, you"d look little-girlish, sil y little sissy-boy. I think it"s a fat-headed idea to put you into boys" clothes!"

„Aha! Our George wants to be the only one!" said Dick, slyly, and quickly got out of the way of a punch from the furious George.

„Well," said Julian, „I"l go out and buy some things for Berta this morning, so that"s settled.

What about her hair? Shall I cut it short?"

Aunt Fanny was amused at Julian"s high-handed way of dealing with Berta and her troubles, and even more amused to see that Berta did not even argue with Julian.

„You can certainly go shopping for Berta if you like," she said. „But I"d rather you didn"t cut her hair. You"d make her look a scarecrow!"

„I don"t mind if Julian cuts it," said Berta, surprisingly meek al at once.

„I shall cut it for you myself," said Aunt Fanny. „Now - what about a boy"s name? We can"t cal you Berta any more, that"s certain."

„I"d rather not have a boy"s name," said Berta. „It"s sil y for a girl to be cal ed by a boy"s name, like George."

„If you mean to be rude to me, I"l ..." began George, but got no farther. Julian and Dick had burst into laughter.

„Oh George - you and Berta wil be the death of us!" said Julian. „Here are you doing all you can to pretend to be a boy - and here is Berta doing al she can to get out of it? For goodness" sake, let"s settle the matter without any more bickering. We"ll cal Berta Robert."

„No - that"s too like Berta," said Dick. „It ought to be a completely different name. We"ll cal her a good plain boy"s name like Jim or Tom or John."

„No," said Berta. „I don"t like any of them. Let me have my second name, please."

„What"s that? Another girl"s name?" asked Julian.

„Yes. But it"s used for a boy too, only then it"s spelt differently," said Berta. „It"s Lesley. It"s a nice name, I think."

„Lesley. Yes - it rather suits you," said Julian. „It suits you better than Berta. We"ll call you Lesley - and people wil think it"s Leslie spelt l-i-e at the end, and not l-e-y. Al right.

Everything"s settled."

„Not quite," said his aunt. „I just want to say that you mustn"t let Berta - I mean Lesley - out of your sight at al . And you must report at once any mysterious happening or any stranger you see. The local police here know that we have Lesley with us, and why - and anything can be reported to them at once. They also are keeping a good look-out, of course."

„This almost sounds as if we"re in the middle of an adventure!" said Dick, looking pleased.

„I hope not," said his aunt. „I don"t imagine that anyone wil ever guess Berta - I mean Lesley - is anything more than she wil appear to be - a boy friend of yours and Julian"s, come to stay for a while. Dear me, it"s going to be dificult to refer to HER and HIM al the time!"

„It certainly is," said Julian, standing up. „If you"l give me some money, Aunt Fanny, I"l go and do a little shopping for Lesley. What size do you think HE needs?"

Everyone laughed. „HE wears size three shoes," said Joan, smiling. „I noticed that this morning."

„And HE wil have to get used to doing his coat buttons up on the right-hand side instead of on the left," said Anne, joining in the fun.

„SHE wil soon get used to that?" said George. „Won"t SHE, Timmy?"

„Don"t spoil it al now, George," said Julian. „A slip of the tongue, saying SHE instead of HE, might lead to danger for her - I mean Lesley."

„Yes, I know," said George. „It"s just that she"ll never look like a boy, and..."

„I don"t want to look like a boy," said Berta. „I think you look..."

„Here we go again!" said Julian. „Stop it, Lesley, stop it, George. George, you"d better come out and help me to get the things for Lesley. Come on. And take that scowl off your face. You look like a sulky girl!"

That made George alter her face at once. She couldn"t help grinning at the artful Julian.

„I"m coming," she said, „Good-bye, Berta. When we come back, you"l be Leslie, haircut and all!"