Read Online The Kingdom of Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh - Free Book Online Page B

I got here.’
    She tiptoed up to what was clearly the back door of the house and knocked. While she was waiting for an answer, she looked through the window beside it. There was a window box on the sill, full of brightly coloured toadstools. The room inside looked unpleasantly familiar. There was still no answer, so she tried the door and, finding it unlocked, tiptoed in.
    â€˜Oh, dear!’ said Rosemary for a third time. ‘It
is
Mrs Cantrip’s kitchen! How silly I have been! When I said “home”, the rocking chair took me to the only one it knew!
    â€˜Is there anyone here?’ she called in a rather wobbly voice. There was no answer. ‘Well, there couldn’t be,’ she said with relief, ‘because it will take them a long time to walk all the way back from Figg’s Bottom.’
    Rosemary looked around the kitchen curiously. It was much the same as the last time she had seen it. It was quite tidy. The hearth was swept and the fire banked up. Dandelions, which had decorated the table, had been changed for a bunch of deadnettles. On the rag rug by the hearth lay a long wooden stick and a pile of twigs. Then her eyes were caught by a small cupboard hanging on the wall by the fireplace.
    The door was open, so she went over and looked in. On the top shelf were sugar and tea, cornflakes and nutmeg, and all the usual things found in a cupboard. But a screw of paper caught Rosemary’s eye on the lower shelf. ‘It looks like the Prism Powder Mrs Cantrip left in her apron pocket.’
    Next to it was an old can, which had a label gummed crookedly on to the side which said, DISAPPEARING POTION , but it was empty. Next to that was a jam jar with some purple liquid at the bottom, labelled FLYING PHILTRE, USE SPARINGLY , and beside that was a pickle jar with a few grains of coarse powder at the bottom. The label on this said MINUSCULE MAGIC .
    â€˜So Mrs Cantrip really did have some magic left over!’ said Rosemary.
    As she spoke, she heard the Market Hall clock strike six o’clock. ‘I must start home. It will take me ages to walk to Cranshaw Road!’ She went through to the second room which opened on to the street and tried the door. To her horror it was locked! There was no key to be seen.
    â€˜I expect Mrs Cantrip has taken it with her. Whatever shall I do?’ She ran to the window whichlooked on to the street, but it had been built as a shop window and it did not open. She walked back to the kitchen slowly as the situation dawned on her. There was no way out, and at any minute Mrs Cantrip and her companion might be back.
    She looked out of the kitchen window which opened on to the little garden. The rocking chair was on the small square of grass. It looked rather forlorn, lying on its side by the skid marks it had made when it landed.
    Rosemary ran out. She picked it up and dusted it with her handkerchief. ‘Rocking chair,’ she pleaded, ‘it was very clever of you to bring me here. I expect it is your home, but I want desperately to get to
my
home in Cranshaw Road. Please, will you take me there now? If you will, I’ll polish you up so beautifully that the Queen herself would be proud to sit in you!’
    She was not sure if she imagined it, but she thought the chair gave a faint rock of its own accord.
    â€˜Now I’ll try and do just what I did before. I said a rhyme, I remember, three times over, and all the while I was rocking.’
    Rosemary sat herself in the chair and put her hands over her eyes to help her think, and began to rock. It was a little while before she could make her whirling thoughts obey her. ‘It’s not a verygood rhyme,’ she said at last, ‘but it will have to do. I can’t think of a better one.’
    Anyone who has had to make up a rhyme with the words ‘one hundred and one’ in it, will realize her difficulty. She rocked the chair steadily, and at last she gripped the arms firmly