The Painted Tent Read Online Free PDF

what she saw in the crystal ball.’
    When Smiler went down to supper he was surprised to find that Jimmy Jago was not there, though he had seen him around during the day.
    â€˜Has Mr Jago gone off again?’ he asked the Duchess.
    â€˜Yes, he has, Samuel,’ said the Duchess. ‘ Jimmy goes and comes like the wind. He’s got restless feet and he doesn’t like a roof over his head long. He’s always on the go, buying a bit here and selling a bit there, and God knows what else, and never an answer to a straight question. You’ll get used to it.’
    â€˜But Scampi’s not gone.’
    â€˜No –’ she grinned – ‘I expect Yin wouldn’t let him. Now eat your supper and, while you’re doing it, tell me all about this business of yours of wanting to be a vet.’
    So Smiler, between mouthfuls, told her all about his ambition to be a vet and then to marry Laura Mackay, his girl friend, who was going to have a farm one day so they could combine the two things. When he had finished, the Duchess eyed him severely and said, ‘With the education you tell me you’ve had, you’ve set yourself an uphill struggle – but that’s all to the good when you’re young. Well, if it’s education you’re after we’ll have to see what we can do about it once you’re settled in. Meanwhile, when you go up to your room, take this with you.’
    She put something on the table between them. It was a small model in coloured clays of a boy with fair hair, whose shoulders were hunched forward slightly, supporting a small pebble which he was carrying like a rucksack.
    â€˜What’s that for, ma’am?’
    â€˜It’s for you – but it isn’t you, Samuel. It’s that Johnny Pickering of yours.’
    â€˜But – I don’t understand?’
    â€˜It’s more magic, Samuel. Not black magic, but good magic. He did you harm, he caused you all your trouble. He’s got a bad conscience because no one can escape their conscience. I’ve put a spell on him. Not a bad one, but a naggling one.’ The Duchess tapped the tip of her large nose. ‘A niggling, naggling one. Keep it in your room and one day you’ll find that pebble’s come unstuck and tumbled off. That will be the day when things will begin to go right for you. You’ll see.’
    â€˜You really mean that, ma’am?’
    â€˜Of course. And you must really believe it, Samuel. Really believe it. You know why?’
    â€˜No, ma’am.’
    â€˜Because the strongest part of all magic is belief. When that pebble falls … well, you’ll see.’
    That night before he went to bed Smiler walked across to the second barn to see that the birds and animals were all right. (Later on he never bothered to go down through the house, but would step out of his bedroom window on to the roof of the kitchen extension and then jump down to the path. To get back he always kept a couple of boxes handy to step up on so that he could reach the roof.)
    He unlocked the small door of the barn with the key which was hidden under the water-butt. Bob had already conducted him around the inmates of the barn and he knew most of their names and some of their histories. He switched on the overhead light and walked down the length of the barn.
    Just now most of the large pens and cages were empty. In one was a chimpanzee called Freddie who was convalescing from a bad attack of bronchitis and had been left there by a circus which had been touring the West Country. Freddie, curled up in a bed of hay, looked up as Smiler came to his cage, wrinkled his mask at him in a friendly gesture, and then piled hay over his head as if to indicate that he wanted no more disturbance. In a cage a little farther down was a black poodle bitch recovering from a broken foreleg. This was Mabel. Seeing Smiler she came out of her sleeping-box and walked across to him on her