Читать книгу Hello, Mr. Twiddle! - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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Mr. Twiddle was always doing something silly. Well, did you ever hear the tale of what happened when he threw his handkerchief into the fire by mistake?

I’ll tell you. It happened one morning when Mr. Twiddle was opening his letters by the kitchen fire. “You can throw the envelopes into the fire,” said Mrs. Twiddle. “It will save me fetching the waste-paper basket.”

Well, Mr. Twiddle at that moment felt he was going to sneeze, so, with an envelope in one hand and his best white silk handkerchief in the other, he sat in his chair, waiting for the sneeze to come.

And when it did come—a-tish-oo-ish oo!—Mr. Twiddle caught the sneeze in the envelope, and threw his handkerchief, quite by mistake, into the fire!

Well, of course, he was terribly upset as soon as he had done this, and tried to rake his handkerchief out of the fire! A bit of burning coal fell on the rug and scorched a hole at once. Mrs. Twiddle came running in when she smelt the smell of burning—and how she scolded Mr. Twiddle!

“Catching a sneeze in an envelope and throwing your best handkerchief on the fire!” she snorted, pouring water on the burning rug. “Whatever will you do next, Twiddle? Don’t you know the difference between a handkerchief and an envelope? You’ll be poking the fire with your pencil and trying to write with the poker next! You might have had the whole house on fire. Go out for a walk, do, and don’t come in till dinner-time!”

Poor Mr. Twiddle! He was really very unhappy about his best handkerchief. He got up, found his hat, put it on back to front and went into the village. And very soon he met old Mrs. Gabble, who always loved a chat. When she saw Mr. Twiddle looking so upset, she stopped.

“What’s the matter?” she said.

“Oh,” said Mr. Twiddle, “a dreadful thing happened this morning. I threw my handkerchief on the fire by mistake, and it got burnt, and when I tried to get it out of the flames, some burning coal fell on the carpet and ...”

“Good gracious me!” said Mrs. Gabble, “no wonder you feel upset!” Then she caught sight of Sally Simple and she hurried to tell her the news. But, of course, she added a bit to it to make it even more exciting!

“Oh, Sally Simple,” she cried, “have you heard what happened at the Twiddles’ house this morning? Why, poor old Twiddle threw his handkerchief on the fire by mistake and, in getting it out, the fire fell on to the rug and set it all ablaze!”

“Goodness me!” said Sally, quite frightened. “And did the kitchen catch alight?”

“I expect so,” said Mrs. Gabble happily. “Oh yes, I am sure it blazed up on to the ceiling!”

Sally Simple was thrilled. She longed to tell some one about the fire at the Twiddles’. She saw Dame Shoo over the way and rushed to tell her.

“Oh, Dame Shoo,” she cried, “have you heard of the terrible fire at poor Mrs. Twiddle’s this morning?”

“No,” said Dame Shoo, startled. “What about it?”

“Oh, Mr. Twiddle dropped his handkerchief in the fire, and that started a dreadful burning,” said Sally Simple. “Yes, the rug caught fire, and the flames shot up to the ceiling! The whole kitchen was on fire.

“But how dreadful!” said Dame Shoo. “I suppose the house will be burnt down?”

“Yes, sure to be,” said Sally Simple. “I do wonder if the fire-engines have gone to see to it. And don’t you think we ought to offer to give the Twiddles a bed for to-night, because, with their house burnt down, they’ll have nowhere to sleep!”

“Yes, yes!” said Dame Shoo. “I’ll go and tell every one else, Sally, and we’ll see what we can do.”

She hurried off, longing to tell some one the news.

On the way she passed the fire-station. She peeped inside—and to her very great surprise she saw the big fire-engine still there. It hadn’t gone to the Twiddles’!

“I say! I say!” cried Dame Shoo, rushing into the fire-station in a great hurry. “Haven’t you heard of the dreadful fire at the Twiddles’ house? It will be burnt to nothing if you don’t hurry at once!”

“First we’ve heard of it!” cried the captain of the fire-brigade, and he sounded the big fire-bell at once.

In three minutes every fireman was in his place, complete with helmet. With a loud clanging of bells the great red fire-engine roared out of the building.

Clang! Clang! Clang! It sped away to Mr. Twiddle’s house. Every one ran after it to see where it was going. It stopped outside Mr. Twiddle’s house. The firemen undid the long hose and looked for the fire.

Mrs. Twiddle looked out of the window. She saw the fire-engine. She saw the firemen unwinding the hose. She saw the crowds and crowds of people. Whatever had they all come for?

She opened the door and looked out.

“Hie, Mrs. Twiddle, where’s the fire?” shouted the men.

“What fire?” asked Mrs. Twiddle, in the greatest astonishment.

“The fire we’ve come to put out!” said the men.

“Well, there’s only one fire in the house and that’s in the kitchen grate,” said Mrs. Twiddle, even more astonished. “And I’m sure I don’t want that put out, thank you!”

At that moment Mr. Twiddle walked up, looking as surprised as could be to see such a crowd round his house.

“You said there was a terrible fire in your house!” cried Dame Shoo.

“I didn’t!” said Mr. Twiddle indignantly.

“You did!” shouted every one.

“I only told Mrs. Gabble I had burnt my handkerchief by mistake!” shouted Mr. Twiddle, and he went inside and banged the door.

The fire-engine turned round and drove off in disgust. Every one went home. Mrs. Twiddle stared at Mr. Twiddle crossly.

“Do you need to bring the fire-engine here and half the town, just because you happen to have burnt your handkerchief?” she said. “Really, Mr. Twiddle! Please don’t do any more foolish things today.”

“Don’t worry. I shan’t!” said Mr. Twiddle gloomily, and he threw his hat into the waste-paper basket and hung up his newspaper on a peg.

Well, really, Mr. Twiddle!