The Circus of Adventure Read Free Page B

us, come to that! Cheer up, Gustavus. Jack didn’t mean what he said, of course.’
    ‘I jolly well did,’ began Jack. ‘Kiki’s old cage is enormous and . . .’
    Mrs. Cunningham firmly led the weeping Gus from the room. The others stared at one another in complete disgust.
    ‘Well! To think we’ve got to put up with that these hols!’ began Jack. ‘All I can say is that I’m going to take him firmly in hand—and he won’t enjoy it one bit!’
    ‘I’ll take him in hand, too,’ said Dinah, quite fiercely. ‘Who does he think he is—laying down the law about Kiki and a cage! Oh, Jack—I do wish you’d got that old cage and brought it in. I’d have loved to see Gustavus’s face.’
    ‘Poor old Gussy!’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Wouldn’t he have howled! Poor Gussy!’
    ‘Gussy!’ said Kiki, at once. ‘Fussy-Gussy! Fussy-Gussy!’
    Everyone laughed. ‘You’ve hit it off again,’ said Philip to Kiki. ‘Fussy—that’s exactly what we’ll have to put up with—fuss and grumbles and silliness all the time. Why don’t foreigners bring up their kids properly? Fussy-Gussy! We shall get jolly tired of him.’
    ‘Fussy-Gussy!’ screamed Kiki, dancing to and fro, to and fro on her big feet. ‘Wipe your feet, Gussy!’
    ‘Dry your eye, you mean,’ said Philip. ‘I hope Gussy’s not going to burst into tears too often. I think I’ll borrow one of Mother’s afternoon-tea-cloths and take it with me to offer him every time he looks like bursting into tears.’
    Mrs. Cunningham came back, and overheard this. ‘I think you’re being a bit unkind,’ she said. ‘He’s a silly little boy, I admit—but it must be rather nerve-racking for him to be plunged into the midst of a company like this when he doesn’t speak the language properly, and everyone laughs at him. I think you should play fair and give him a chance.’
    ‘All right, Mother,’ said Philip. ‘All the same—it isn’t like Bill to thrust someone like Gussy on us at a moment’s notice, just at the beginning of the hols.’
    ‘Well, you see,’ said his mother, ‘it’s like this. Bill was saddled with this youngster—and he knew you wouldn’t like having him. So he suggested to me that he should go off with him alone somewhere. I couldn’t bear that, because a holiday without Bill would be horrid—and so we thought it would be best if Gustavus came with us all, and we tried to put up with him. It’s either that or going without both Gussy and Bill.’
    ‘I see,’ said Philip. ‘Well, I’d rather put up with Gussy than have no Bill.’
    ‘That’s what I thought,’ said his mother. ‘So don’t make Bill feel too bad about it, will you? He’s quite likely to vanish with Gussy for the rest of the holidays if you make too much fuss. All the same—I think you can quite safely make young Gustavus toe the line. That won’t do him any harm at all. He seems a spoilt little cry-baby to me.’
    ‘We’ll soon show him exactly where he stands,’ said Jack. ‘But I really can’t think how Bill was soft enough to take him on. Where’s the crybaby now?’
    ‘I’ve popped him into bed with a book,’ said Mrs. Cunningham. ‘There’s such a lot of things to do this evening and I really felt I couldn’t cope with sobs and tears and bickerings the very first day you were home—so I thought everyone would be happier if he was in bed.’
    ‘How right you were!’ said Jack. ‘Well, now dear Gussy is safely out of the way, let’s get on with things. I suppose you don’t want any help with the supper, Aunt Allie?’
    ‘I imagine that’s a roundabout way of saying you are hungry again?’ said Aunt Allie. ‘All right—the girls can see to supper. You boys come and help me finish packing the greatest number of things into the smallest possible bags! I’m leaving behind practically everything belonging to Gustavus—he’s got the most ridiculous things—pyjamas made of real silk, for instance! And monograms on