OFF ON AN ADVENTURE WITH TIBBS AND KIDDIWEE
“Come along!” cried Tibbs, who was seated upon a puff of smoke above
the chimney-pot, “we thought you were never coming.”
“’Es we did!” chimed in Kiddiwee, from a swallow’s nest under the ledge
of the chimney.
“On the contery,” said Coppertop, as she emerged from the chimney-pot
in a dignified fashion, “on the contery, you knew perfectly well I was
coming, else you wouldn’t have been waiting here, would you?”
“’Spose not!” said Tibbs. “What’s the trouble this time?”
“Oh, if you’re going to be grumpy, I shall wish I hadn’t ’magined you,”
said Coppertop, looking down her freckled nose and pouting her lips;
“and my book’s gone! I can’t see it anywhere!”
“Don’t cry, Cece!” piped up a tiny voice from the swallow’s nest.
Kiddiwee always took Coppertop’s part in any dispute that arose.
“I’m not crying! But he needn’t be so grumpy, and on a beastly old day
like this, too!”
“That’s why!” cried Tibbs. “You shouldn’t have called us on such a day!
It’s warm and cosy in the Far-away-Beyond,” he added, with a shiver.
“You don’t seem to understand,” said Coppertop, with tears in her eyes.
“Mummie and Daddy are coming home to-day, and it simply _must_ be fine.
This is just a horrid July day that’s gone astray! We really can’t have
it here on the first of December. Whatever can we do about it?”
“So that’s it, is it?” cried Tibbs; “you want us to help you put the
weather right?”
“Oh, yes!” cried Coppertop eagerly. “It’s not for myself, it’s for
Mummie and Daddy!” she added beseechingly.
“It’s an awful big interference,” said Tibbs, his eyes beginning to
sparkle at the thought of it. “But we’ll do it.”
“’Es, so we will,” agreed Kiddiwee.
“We’ll push this beastly old July day back to its right month, and find
the December day that ought to be here. My, but it will be a spree!”
and Tibbs rubbed his hands delightedly.
“That’s right! I knew I could depend on you!” said Coppertop, and her
pale cheeks began to glow with excitement.
“’Es, but how?” asked Kiddiwee anxiously.
“I don’t know exactly how,” replied Coppertop, “but it _must_ be done!
Perhaps we’d better call on the Clerk of the Weather, he ought to be
able to help us!”
And so saying, off they flew to interview that important personage.