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Part Three:
Mary could only gape at her sudden visitor while they coughed more soot out of their lungs. She didn't quite seem to hear their request nor did she notice that her jaw was hanging open like a dumbstruck cow. It was only when the person mentioned it in a lighthearted way did she close her mouth and blush, embarrassed. The blackened face was young behind the soot, probably no older than Mary herself. A grin, white in the dark face, started to appear as Mary scrambled for what they asked for when they repeated themselves.
"H-here," she said uncertainly, handing out a clean handkerchief. "Who're you?"
The white handkerchief was soon filthy and the face not much the better. But now she could see a kind face of a boy with grey blue eyes. He looked around him for a moment before picking up a cap she had not noticed before off the floor. Slapping it back on his head he turned and tipped it at her.
"Just Bert is fine," he said amiably.
He seemed to have remembered the handkerchief in his other hand for he glanced at it with wide eyes. Grinning sheepishly he gave back the dirtied material, no longer the pristine white it once was. Mary took it only between two fingers. Bert then looked around him at all the soot and ash and made a face. Half the carpet was covered in it.
"No doubt I'll be in wicked trouble for this," he then told Mary. "I should 'ave put the covers down…But hey, there."
His eyes shown with childlike mischief as he gazed at her, his attention diverted.
"You're in here so you must be in trouble, too, if you don't mind me saying."
Mary avoided the topic by not saying anything and took another look up the chimney, then back at Bert.
"What were you doing up there?" she asked him.
The corner of his mouth pulled up into half a smile and he also came by the fireplace. With difficulty, he crawled over the crushed wood and reached up into the chimney. While Mary watched, he removed a chimney sweeper by its long pole with a grunt. Soot flaked off the long, stiff bristles as he stood it up next to him. It was nearly bigger than he was. He then pointed at his chest proudly.
"I'm the chimney sweep," he said, "The only one who dares to go up these kinds of chimneys. They're really dangerous for the other blokes, so I go! Nice an' easy."
Mary looked uncertainly at him. Her mother used to say she must never talk to a young man without her or another adult with her. Indeed, Mary never saw any young men outside times they went for walks in the park where some would be playing cricket.
The only other boys she knew also were the ones in her other school. They were silly, scrawny things who liked to put frogs and spiders in the girls' desks and stick close to their mothers. But Bert…he seemed not like any young man Mary would avoid at all. Despite his sooty, rumpled appearance, she felt him trustworthy. The eyes in the black smudged face were very gentle and glowed with a certain zeal for life she enjoyed seeing.
Another thought pressed her mind.
"But you fell," she put out.
He ducked his head in agreement and looked back up with another of his half smiles.
"So I did!" he said with a warm laugh, "but, I never said I was the best. Just the bravest. And speaking of which, I should get back to the job. This is the worst chimney I've been in!"
Mary suddenly felt a little worried for him. If this was his job, it would be only in a matter of time before he fell off the chimney instead of back in it. She watched him stuff the sweep back up the chimney, and hefting one of his feet on the brick, he started to lift himself back in. She started forward.
"W-won't you stay with me, please?" she squeaked, gripping the mantle.
Bert paused for a moment and to Mary's relief, came back out onto the carpet. He pushed his cap away from his face to view her in surprise. She blushed and looked down, not willing to tell him her fears. That would be much too forward if she told him she was worried about his safety! Why, she only just met him. And young ladies did not speak of their fears to unknown gentlemen. No matter how trustworthy Bert seemed, it would be a long time before Mary got over her mother's strict rules of never sharing her private feelings. Instead, she would relinquish the reasons for her being in the study.
"I am in trouble," she confessed to him. "This is my first day, too."
The trouble was avoided. Bert looked genuinely astonished.
"Is that right?" he asked, his expression curious.
Mary nodded solemnly and told him of the trouble with the school and the awful Matron and blonde girl, who had been the cause of her being there. Bert listened with interest, making small comments, moans of sympathy, and disgusted looks at the appropriate times. He scratched his head when she had finished and whistled low.
"What a day you've 'ad!" he exclaimed, "Why, I don't think too many nice girls like you could get through all that without a word. I would 'ave got kicked out, right straight!"
It was Mary's turn to smile.
"Well, I think any other girl would be able to keep her tongue in her head." She said with some bitterness.
Bert also proved to be perceptive as well as compassionate. His eyes squinted up at her tone and he shook his head firmly.
"I don't think so," he told her, "I think what you did was fine. No other girl would stand up for herself, don't you think?"
Mary stared at him as he looked at her meaningfully. She thought back on what she had done, and about all the other girls in that room. She discovered that not many of them would be able to stand up to Matron. They had fallen silent when Mary spoke against her. She jerked her head up to look at Bert in wonder, who was smiling again. He nodded a little and then brought up a sooty hand to rub his chin, smudging it while he gazed up at the ceiling in thought.
"Come to think of it," he said, mostly to himself. "I don't think I've ever seen you around." His eyes fixed on her face again. "Whatcher name?"
"Mary," Mary said, suddenly shy, "Mary Poppins."
It seemed that they were becoming good friends already and Bert opened his mouth to say so when an outraged screech made them both jump and turn. Mary heard a small 'uh oh' from behind her and as they looked to where the screech came from she understood why Bert said that.
A white faced Mistress Hemmington was standing in the doorway, her face twisted in horror and fury. It was quite a frightening thing for Mary to see, for the calm, stern face she had seen before now was unrecognizable. She retreated to the fireplace. However, it was not at Mary Mistress Hemmington was looking at, but the floor. The two young people had forgotten all the soot and dust that was everywhere, forgetting the mess of it all. Now they looked along with her with equal horror.
The woman pointed an accusing finger at Bert who suddenly set to scrambling for his sweeper.
"Mister Bert!" she bellowed. "What have you done to my study?"
He ducked his head and sputtered quick apologies, looking from the door to the chimney as if not sure which way to escape. The woman soon bore down on him and with a pained yell Bert was caught in the familiar pinch of his ear between two strong fingers. She dragged his head towards the floor, still yelling.
"Look at what you did to my good carpet!" she shouted over his yells of pain, "Ruined! Ruined, Mister Bert, ruined! Do you know how much this will cost to replace?"
Bert didn't seem to be paying attention to the carpet. Instead he yelled over and over: "Ow! Let go, let go! You're goin' to rip it off! Ow!"
She also ignored what he was saying and instead shook his ear harder, increasing his yells. Mary pressed against the wall, eyes wide and mouth open in terror at the scene before her. Distress for Bert and Bert's ear willed her to help, but the dangerous look on the Mistress's face kept her back. It would have been comical, a great boy like Bert being pinned by a smaller, thinner woman, if Mary didn't know either of them. But she did know them, and Bert was her friend. Perhaps the only one who could understand her at least just a little.
She might never see him again if he lost his job here. This filled her with such pain, she couldn't contain herself.
"It was my fault!" she heard herself say, coming forward, "Please, Mistress Hemmington, it was my fault!"
Both the struggling people stopped and stared at Mary. Bert's eyes were large and his mouth hung open in disbelief while the Mistress looked appalled. Mary blushed, but stood firm, feeling very small. A moment of silence passed before finally, Mistress Hemmington spoke in a tightly controlled voice.
"Is that true, Miss Poppins?" she asked almost breathlessly.
"Yes," Mary nodded, warning Bert with her eyes who looked like he was about to argue, "I-I startled him and he fell. I didn't know he was up there, ma'am. It was my fault the carpet's ruined. Please don't punish him."
Mistress Hemmington's lips tightened into a thin line and with a jerking motion, she released Bert. He stumbled off to the side, holding his ear, his eyes still on Mary. Mentally Mary sighed with relief. The Mistress seemed displeased.
"You better not be covering for him, Miss Poppins," she said softly, her eyes aglow with suppressed frustration.
Mary quickly shook her head, making her most innocent face she could. It seemed to work for the Mistress seemed semi-pacified. She was not happy in releasing her foolhardy chimney sweeper, though.
"Well," Hemmington turned back to Bert, who flinched away, "It seems you have avoided trouble, Mister Bert, thanks to Miss Poppins here. It won't happen again, though. Next time, I will personally throw you out the door!"
Here she pointed a finger to the very door she spoke of, silently ordering him out. He slowly collected up the sweeper until the Mistress stamped her foot near his fingers. He jumped, dropped the sweeper, and apologized profusely while picking it back up. Stumbling he bowed as he retreated backwards and with a thankful yet disapproving look at Mary, he hurried from the study. Hemmington glowered at the door before crossing the room and sitting behind her desk with a sigh.
Mary knew that now she was in trouble if she wasn't already for her mouth to Matron. Uneasily she stood in front of the desk, feeling out of place and silly covered in the same soot that coated Bert. The woman was reading the note Matron wrote and for a moment Mary wished she had thrown it away or given it to her new friend, to hide. Now she wrung her hands behind her back as Hemmington placed the note back down and folded her hands over her desk, peering at Mary over her knitted fingers.
"You seem very keen to get into as much trouble as you can, Miss Poppins," she said quietly. "Do you have anything to say?"
"I'll work off the money for your carpet," Mary mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "I am sorry, but I won't take away what I said to Matron."
Mistress Hemmington sighed. She took a slip of paper out of her desk and begun to write.
"Your parents will be informed of your actions," she said while Mary protested, "but I will take up your offer to work it off. You will work in the kitchens with Mistress Manning. You will be on kitchen duty for two weeks and you will not attend any breaks this week for your cheek to Matron. You also will skip joining us for dinner tonight."
Mary nodded, keeping back tears. Mistress Hemmington looked up at her, sympathetic but silent. In a formal way she handed Mary a clean handkerchief, which the girl accepted.
"I trust you will do better, now," she said seriously while Mary blew her nose. "This school does not put up with any shenanigans."
"Yes, Mistress," Mary sniffed, offering back the handkerchief.
The woman refused and the girl tucked it into her pocket instead, thanking her in a wobbly voice. The Mistress nodded, studying her for a moment before returning to her paper.
"You may go, now." She dismissed her.
Quite willingly, the girl complied and quickly left the sooty study. Walking along the halls she remembered vaguely that Janet had asked her to wait for her outside the dining room. She headed for it, wiping at her eyes and taking deep breathes. Her parents would be ashamed, but at least she wasn't expelled. There was still time to make amends and do better. And she would do better, Mary promised herself.
As she passed a window, she noticed that it looked out onto the front lawn. To her surprise, Bert was still around, talking to Pappy through the gate. As if feeling her gaze, he turned his head and searched until he spotted her. With a smile he waved his cap at her, to which she smiled and waved her hand back.
At least she had a friend. Perhaps two, if Janet was as kind as she thought. And an enemy. Mary thought of her unkindly. The blonde girl would pay for the trouble she caused her. But, gazing at Bert made Mary looked back on it thoughtfully. If it wasn't for that girl, she never would have run into him.
"I won't thank her for it, though," Mary said firmly, pushing the blonde girl from her thoughts.
She watched as her friend waved again and disappeared around the corner, the sweeper on his shoulder. She would do her best to make it in this school, no matter what. And for whatever the reason, Mary felt like she could do that. Resolutions in mind she turned and went back to the dining area where Janet was there, waiting for her.
"I'll do my best," she said to herself while Janet chattered all the way back to the rooms. "I promise, I'll do my best."
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