Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO A PLAYROOM SURPRISE He was, of course, because the robin had flown down to tell him that the children were coming. He hid behind some tall hollyhocks, and leaped out on them as they came up to the door of the playroom. 'Mollie! Peter! I'm here!' 'Binky! We are glad to see you!' said Mollie. 'Wait till I put down all this stuff and I'll give you a hug! There!' She gave the little pixie such a hug that he almost choked. He beamed all over his face. 'Where's the key?' he said. 'I'll open the door. I want to get the wishing-chair inside before anyone sees it. There's a tiresome little brownie

who keeps on wanting to sit in it.' He unlocked the door of the playroom and they all went in. Binky helped them with the food, and then ran to get the wishing-chair. He staggered in with it, beaming.

'I tipped that tiresome brownie off the seat, and he fell into some nettles,' said Binky. 'He shouted like anything. Well, does the chair look just the same as ever?' 'Oh, yes!' said Mollie, in delight, looking at the polished wooden chair. 'Your mother does keep it well polished, Binky. Did it grow its wings and fly off at all, while we were away at school this term?' 'It grew its wings once,' said Binky, but as I was in bed with a cold I couldn't fly off anywhere exciting in it- so I tied it to one of the legs of my bed, in case it tried to do anything silly, like flying out of the window.' Mollie giggled. 'And did it try?' she asked. 'Oh, yes- it woke me up in the middle of the night, flapping its wings and tugging at my bed, said Binky with a grin. 'But it couldn't

get away, and in the morning its wings had gone again. So that was all right.'

'I do so hope it will grow its wings this weekend,' said Peter. 'We've only got a few days' holiday, then we go back to school again -and as Mother and Daddy are both away we really could go off on an adventure or two without any difficulty.' 'I expect it will,' said Binky, looking at the chair. He felt its legs to see if there were any bumps coming, which meant that its wings were sprouting. But he couldn't feel any. What a pity! Soon they were all sitting down enjoying Mrs Williams's buns and ice-cream. It was a hot day, so they drank rather a lot of the ginger beer. 'It won't last long if we drink it at this rate!' said Peter. 'I say- I wonder if Mrs Williams would mind if we lived down here in the

playroom all this weekend- slept here, too?' 'That would be fun!' said Mollie. 'I don't see why we shouldn't. You could come too, Binky.'