Jasper and the Green Marvel (10 page)
Read Jasper and the Green Marvel Online
Authors: Deirdre Madden
‘Professor Orchid!’
While Jasper had been gazing at the necklace, Mrs Haverford-Snuffley and Mrs Knuttmegg, both in dressing gowns and hairnets, had come into the kitchen. ‘Why, Professor, what on earth are you doing here in the middle of the night?’
‘He’s got the necklace, look,’ Mrs Knuttmegg cried. ‘He’s got the Green Marvel!’
‘It’s mine, not yours,’ Jasper said, dropping it into his pocket, ‘and you’re not getting it, so don’t even bother thinking about it.’
‘He’s a bad egg, missus. I knew it as soon
as I clapped eyes on him. I knew he wasn’t a gardener.’
‘What are you talking about, Mrs Knuttmegg? Not a gardener? What can you possibly mean?’
‘The nasty old biddy is correct,’ Jasper replied. ‘Smart fellow like me waste my life on flowers and vegetables? No chance!’
Mrs Haverford-Snuffley looked shocked and bewildered. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘Can this really be true?’
Jasper gave a horrible grin and nodded.
‘So … so you don’t know anything at all about plants and gardens?’
‘Not a thing,’ Jasper said proudly.
‘He’s been lying to you all along, missus.’
‘And so your name isn’t really Professor Orchid?’
‘Nope.’
The elderly lady stood there in the soft light of the lamp, looking confused and bewildered. ‘Can this really be true?’ she said again.
Suddenly an awful thought crossed her mind.
‘If you lied about the gardening, did you lie to me about other things too? Is it possible then that you lied about—’ and her voice fell to a whisper, for she could hardly bring herself to speak the words. ‘Is it possible that you don’t really … like … bats?’
‘Bats?’ Jasper said. ‘Bats? With their nasty red mouths and pointy teeth? Their horrid fur and their hideous bony wings? No, you mad old sausage, I don’t like bats. I HATE them! Yuk! Urg! They make my flesh crawl.’
Mrs Haverford-Snuffley gasped and put her hand over her mouth.
‘Can this be true? But you must like Mummy’s little sweetheart?’ Her voice was pleading now. ‘My own little possum? What about my
cutie-pie
, adorable little baby-waby batty-watty?’
‘I hate it above all!’ Jasper shouted. ‘It’s the worst! It’s my least favourite bat in the whole wide world!’
Mrs Haverford-Snuffley gave a low moan,
and then she started to cry. Mrs Knuttmegg put her arms around the old lady and hugged her.
‘There, there, missus, don’t pay him any heed. He’s an evil, wicked man. And you are, too,’ she shouted at Jasper. ‘You’re badness itself. And that necklace you’ve got, you’ve no right to it. It belongs to missus, because it was in her house.’
‘Well, it’s mine now and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.’ He snatched up a rolling pin that was sitting on a nearby
worktop
, and he waved it menacingly. ‘Any more of your lip and you’ll be sorry.’
‘Threaten me with my own rolling pin? How dare you?’
‘I’ll do better than that,’ Jasper said, and in no time at all he had tied Mrs Knuttmegg’s hands behind her back, using one of her own tea-towels.
‘You villain! You’ll pay for this,’ she shouted as she wriggled and struggled.
‘Who’s going to make me?’ Jasper sneered as he double-knotted the tea-towel. When he had finished with Mrs Knuttmegg he tied up Mrs Haverford-Snuffley, who didn’t struggle at all because she was so frightened.
‘I’m the boss now,’ Jasper said, picking up the rolling pin again. ‘You have to do whatever I say. Now move!’
He pushed the two women out into the hallway, and opened the back door. Poking at them with the rolling pin, he then forced them out into the night.
As soon as Jasper and the two women had left the house, Georgiana came out from the side of the cupboard and rushed over to the window.
‘He’s taking them through the garden,’ she cried. ‘Oh, the poor things!’
‘Go after them, Georgiana,’ Nelly said. ‘See exactly where they go. We’ll follow you as soon as we can.’
Georgiana stared at her blankly. ‘Me? You want me to go out into the garden? I can’t possibly do that.’
‘But you must,’ Nelly cried, dismayed.
‘After the night I was supposed to elope with
Toby, I never went out of the house ever again,’ Georgiana said. ‘It was too sad, I couldn’t bear it.’ She looked frightened and anxious now. ‘I haven’t been in the garden for over two hundred years!’
‘But you must,’ Nelly said again. ‘We have to save those two nice women from that horrible man. Please, Georgiana, please help us.’
The ghost took a deep breath, and without another word she walked through the kitchen wall and disappeared.
‘What are we going to do, Nelly?’ Rags asked.
‘We’re going to get help. Follow me.’ She fluttered into the dumb-waiter and the rats climbed in beside her. ‘Press the button please, Bags.’
PING
!
The steel doors closed and the dumb-waiter started to ascend.
When the doors opened again, the animals found themselves gazing into the dining room. ‘This isn’t where we want to be,’ Nelly said crossly. ‘Push the button again please, Bags.’
PING
! This time the dumb-waiter started to descend and Nelly gave a loud squeak of
impatience. ‘These things never work the way you want them to. Oh, this is so annoying!’ For the doors had opened again and they found themselves once more back in the kitchen.
‘We’ll give it one last try.’ This time Nelly herself got out and hammered on the button of the dumb-waiter.
PING! PING! PING!
Now they were going up again, up and up and up, until finally they lurched to a halt. ‘This had better be the right place,’ Nelly muttered as the metal doors slid back.
‘Hello, Princess! What kept you? You’re late for your dinner.’ It was Benny speaking, for they were back in the attic where all the bats lived. ‘Oh, hello, you two,’ he went on, for he had suddenly noticed Rags and Bags. ‘Nelly, you should have told us you’d be bringing your two friends with you tonight.’
‘Oh, Benny,’ Nelly gasped, ‘something terrible has happened.’ As she quickly told the whole of their night’s adventure so far, the two rats gazed up at the rows and rows of bats on
their roosts. All of them were listening intently to what Nelly said.
‘This will never do,’ Benny cried when she had finished. ‘We’ll have to stop that rascal and save those poor ladies.’
‘I’ll lead the way,’ Nelly said.
‘And we’ll follow!’ the big bat shouted in reply. But then suddenly he remembered Rags and Bags. He stared at them for a few moments.
‘Hmmn, we can’t leave you here, can we? Jim, will you help me with this?’
The bat in the felt beret, who Rags and Bags remembered had helped to serve the food the last time, nodded his head. Benny and Jim swooped down to where the two nervous rats were sitting on the floor. ‘Climb aboard,’ Benny said, turning his back on Bags.
‘What … what do you mean?’
‘I’m going to give you a piggy-back. You know, a lift.’
‘That’s awfully kind, but I think …’ Bags stammered.
‘We couldn’t possibly put you to such trouble,’ Rags quickly added.
‘Didn’t you tell us the last time that you can’t fly?’ Jim said sternly.
The rats nodded their heads. ‘In that case, stop talking twaddle and hop up there. We have no time at all to lose.’
There was nothing else for it. Timidly, the two rats each climbed on to the back of a bat. It felt very odd.
‘Hold on tight.’
‘Oh we will! We will!’
‘Aaargh, not that tight! You’re choking me,’ Jim gasped.
‘Sorry,’ Rags said, and he loosened the grip of his paws around Jim’s neck.
‘Just be sure not to fall off. Everybody ready now? Are we all set?’
‘YES!’ the bats cried aloud.
‘Then we’re off. Little ’uns first. Nelly, lead the way!’
Followed by a stream of the smallest bats, Nelly fluttered over to the fireplace on the far side of the room and, to the astonishment of the rats, flew straight up the chimney.
‘Go! Go! Go!’ Benny cried as all the others followed on, every last one of them, even the babies and the grannies. Their flapping wings made a cold wind in the attic, and there was a loud humming noise. It was all incredibly well organised, with no bumping, no pushing or shoving. Two by two all the bats flew across the room and disappeared into the fireplace, with Benny and Jim the last to go.
‘To the rescue! Geronimo!’
The next thing Rags and Bags knew, they were being carried across the attic in swift, juddering flight on the bats’ backs. For one horrible moment they thought they were going to smash into the back of the fireplace, but just in time Benny and Jim skilfully changed direction and flew straight up. They were in a narrow brick tunnel now that smelt powerfully of soot and smoke. Oh, it was a horrible place! In spite of themselves the rats began to splutter and cough.
Maybe this is just a dream, Rags thought, and any moment now I’ll wake up in my sock, with my head on the rolled-up vest and Bags asleep beside me. But in his heart he knew that it was all really happening.
If only we had never left prison! Bags said to himself, as he clung for dear life to the bat’s neck. It wasn’t such a bad place after all. But he knew deep down that this wasn’t true.
Just when they thought they could stand it
no longer, WHOOSH! They shot out of the chimney pot and into the night sky. What a sight met their eyes!
They were at the end of a great line of bats, all flying two by two. The air was full of the sound of their wings. Flapping and fluttering, they flew across the full moon, and it seemed to the rats that if they were to stretch out their paws, they would be able to touch its silver face. Far, far below them they could see the roof of Haverford-Snuffley Hall. They could see the gardens, all the flower beds and the lawns, the kitchen garden and the greenhouses. They could see the lake in the distance and the island where the folly stood, and all of these things, with which they were so familiar, looked like toys now. Everything was laid out neatly and clearly as if it were on a map. Still they continued to soar.
Far ahead of them they could see Nelly, the only bat who was flying solo, bravely leading the way. Rags remembered the first time he
had met her, and was ashamed to think how they had teased her and pinched her bonnet. What a mean, stupid thing to do!
Just at that very moment, Nelly dived straight down at speed. All the other bats followed her, zooming towards the ground. It was most unpleasant for Rags and Bags, who felt that they had left their tummies somewhere up near the moon, as the rest of their bodies hurtled downwards.
‘Oooh, this is so weird,’ Bags moaned, and he pressed his face into the back of Benny’s neck.
‘I’m going to be sick!’ Rags wailed.
‘Hold on tight and you’ll be fine,’ Jim yelled.
Down and down they went, as the ground raced up to meet them.
What had Nelly seen?
While all of this was happening, Georgiana had been running through the gardens in the moonlight. How strange it was to be out in the cool night air, after being closed up in the house for more than two hundred years! I should have done this before now, she thought. I should have looked for Toby after that night and tried to find out what went wrong. Sometimes love lasts forever and Georgiana still loved Toby. She forced herself now to think about the job in hand. She had to stay near enough to Jasper and the women so as not to lose track of them,
but not so close that they might see or hear her.
There was one tricky moment when she did draw too near, and Jasper heard the rustle of her billowing silk dress.
‘What was that?’ he said, stopping and looking back. Georgiana had no choice but to step into the trunk of an ancient oak and disappear.
‘Hmm,’ Jasper said, frowning. ‘It must be the wind in the trees.’ He turned back and gave Mrs Knuttmegg another poke with the rolling pin. ‘Go on, keep moving.’
‘You villain,’ she said. Mrs
Haverford-Snuffley
was still sobbing, but more quietly now.
The little group continued on its way and Georgiana came out of the oak, feeling very peculiar. She had walked through things such as doors and walls on countless occasions, but this was the first time she had walked into a solid object and stayed in it, if only for a moment. It had been a peculiar feeling, both
uncomfortable and unpleasant, and she hoped she wouldn’t have to do it again.
She continued to tiptoe after the little group, and tried hard not to make a noise. Soon Georgiana was again close enough to hear what they were saying to each other.
‘What are you going to do with us?’ Mrs Haverford-Snuffley whimpered.
‘I’m going to lock you up,’ Jasper said. ‘Then I’m going to go back to the house and pinch everything I want. That nice silver bowl in the hallway, for example, I’ve always fancied that. And I’m keeping the Green Marvel, of course. By the time you’re found, I’ll be far away, with all the goodies.’
‘Don’t think you’ll get away with it,’ Mrs Knuttmegg cried. In reply Jasper waved the rolling pin at her in a menacing way.
By this time they were at the back of the walled garden, near the compost heap. ‘You’re not going to lock us in the potting shed, are you?’ cried Mrs Haverford-Snuffley.
‘Just see if I don’t.’
‘But it’s horrible in there. It’s dark and it’s full of spiders.’
‘That’s your problem, not mine,’ Jasper said as he fumbled to unlock the door.
Oh, what am I going to do? Georgiana thought in despair. Where are Nelly and the rats? And then she remembered something enormously important:
I’m a ghost!
Over the years Georgiana had often frightened people, but always accidentally. She would wander through walls into rooms that she thought were empty, only to find some unfortunate houseguest sitting on the bed in their underwear. People would come into her little room, where she was sitting on the sofa, and when she shyly melted away through the wall the sound of their screams would follow her for ages. But never had she deliberately set out to frighten anyone.
Not until tonight.
Taking a deep breath, she jumped out from
behind a tree, into full view of Jasper and the women. ‘WOOOOH,’ she cried, wishing that she had a chain to rattle, or that she could take her head off and put it under her arm. ‘WOOOOH!’
But she didn’t need any special effects. All three immediately recognised her from the painting in the hallway, and they knew at once that she was a …
‘GHOST! AAARGH! GHOST! GHOST!’ Even Jasper, who didn’t believe in ghosts, was terrified. Georgiana was encouraged by their reaction. ‘WOOOOH!’
High above them all, somewhere up near the moon, Nelly heard the commotion. Peering down, she saw what was happening and began her rapid descent. ‘WOOOH!’ Georgiana cried for a fourth time.
And then yet again something completely unexpected and amazing happened.
A second ghost walked straight through the garden wall and stood before them. It was a
young man, with blond hair cut in a square fringe and he was dressed in soft brown clothes. Georgiana gave a loud scream of shock and delight.
‘Toby!’
‘Georgiana! I thought I heard your voice but I couldn’t believe it. Is it you? Is it really you, my darling?’
But before she could reply, the air was filled with a strange humming and buzzing noise, growing stronger all the time, until it was incredibly loud. ‘My bats!’ Mrs
Haverford-Snuffley
shouted in delight. ‘It’s Mummy’s little pumpkin! It’s my wonderful little darling
batty-watty
and all her family!’
The great dark cloud of bats descended and swarmed Jasper.
‘Eeek! Gerroff! Leave me alone!’
In all the hurly-burly he dropped the rolling pin, just as Mrs Knuttmegg, who had been wriggling ever since they left the house, struggled free from the tea-towel. She quickly
untied her employer, and snatched up her rolling pin.
‘Go and get help, missus,’ she shouted. ‘I’ll deal with this rascal.’
Mrs Haverford-Snuffley scampered off in the direction of the Hall, while Jasper tried to run away.
But, baffled by bats, terrified of the ghosts and cornered by Mrs Knuttmegg, it was all too much for him. He stumbled and fell head first into the compost heap, in amongst all the rotting potato peelings and manky egg shells. The bats settled on him in a great pile, so that he couldn’t beat them off.
And Jasper knew then that the game was up.