Carbonel and Calidor (24 page)

So that was how they went home. Their progress was slow but very stately. The birds, which were twittering sleepily when they started, were in full-throated song when they reached the gate, and said good-bye to Mrs Witherspoon.

‘It's going to be a beautiful day!' she said. ‘Come and see me sometime when you come to stay at Highdown.'

‘We should love to!' said John and Rosemary, and they really meant it.

 

Miss Dibdin did find just the right house to retire to in Highdown with her friend Mrs Cantrip. They are settled there very happily, and are devoted to their cat, who is called Mattins. (His whiskers straightened in time.) Miss Dibdin has taken a part-time job helping Mr Sprules in his second-hand book shop, and is firm friends with his cat Splodger. Sometimes she wonders how one of his ears got so badly torn, but of course he can't tell her. Mrs Cantrip is a busy member of the Women's Institute. They both of them often call on their friend Mrs Witherspoon, the owner of that flourishing private hotel, Tucket Towers.

And Gullion? As no one bothers to listen to his wicked whisperings in Timbuktu, it is to be hoped his power is ended.

Mrs Featherstone sometimes wonders why Rosemary brushes the hearth-rug in the sitting-room with such care every day, as she does not seem interested in any other kind of housework. Even more surprising is that John always helps her when he comes to stay.

BARBARA SLEIGH (1906–1982) worked for the BBC
Children's Hour
and is the author of
Carbonel
and two sequels:
The Kingdom of Carbonel
and
Carbonel and Calidor
.

THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK

PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

 

Copyright © 1978 by Barbara Sleigh

Illustrations copyright © 1978 by Charles Front

All rights reserved.

 

Published in the United States of America by

New York Review Books, 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

www.nyrb.com

 

The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier printing as follows:

Sleigh, Barbara, 1906–

Carbonel and Calidor : being the further adventures of a royal cat / by Barbara Sleigh ; illustrations by Charles Front.

p. cm. — (New York Review Books children's collection)

Summary: When Calidor rejects his life of ease as heir to the throne of Cat Country to apprentice with the hostile Broomhurst witches, his father, Carbonel, sends his human friends Rosemary and John to talk sense into the royal prince.

[1. Cats—Fiction. 2. Kings, queens, rulers, etc.—Fiction. 3. Witches—Fiction. 4. Human-animal communication Fiction. 5. Duty—Fiction. 6. Fantasy.] I. Front,

Charles, ill. II. Title.

PZ7.S6317Cas 2009

[Fic]—dc22

2009011906

ISBN 978-1-59017-333-6

 

Cover design by Louise Fili Ltd.

eISBN 978-1-59017-574-3
v1.0

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