The house was as untidy inside as the garden around it. Spike tried in
vain to take everything in. The walls were decorated with grand paintings,
hung crookedly, the floor was plush with the best carpet, grey with dust,
the rooms he peeked into were filled with Victorian furniture, and
expensive antiques, and books. Thosands of books. There was also
porcelain, marble, and fine china stacked everywhere, and pottery from
other lands, and gold and silver embellished pictures. Silverware. Plates
on stands. It was all too much.

Most of the kitchen looked as if it came from a museum, except for the
microwave and some other modern electrical appliances. The floor was
richly tiled, with cupboards carved out of stained wood, and the ceiling
was decorated with a mural. The lights were surrounded with crystal
prisms. And there were five bird-cages, with budgies, cockatiels and zebra
finches, all chirping or twittering in them.

Miss Huddy tottered over to a refrigerator and brought a jug of milk to
the huge oak table. She poured two glasses and put a tin of biscuits
beside them.

"Help yourself she said, smiling sweetly. Spike thought: "Man, am I going
to take you for a ride!"

He ate quickly, taking the biscuits two at a time so Miss Huddy wouldn't
notice. She fiddled with her brooches and muttered to herself.

"Pussy's gone to look for mice" she said to herself, "Gone to find a
little mousey. I give her breakfast and away she goes, into the grass to
be a tiger. A big, fierce tiger. What a lovely tiger. Have you had
enough?"

"Yes, thanks," said Spike, "I'd better get started. What do you want me to
do first?"

"I don't know," said Miss Huddy, then she looked straight at Spike as if
she was seeing him for the first time. "Hello!" she said, "Where did you
spring from?"

"I've been here all the time," said Spike, "I came to do the gardening"

"Oh that's right, that's right!" said Miss Huddy. She giggled and rocked
about in her chair for a while, then she smiled ever so sweetly and pushed
the biscuit tin across to Spike"

"Have you had enough? There's plenty more cookies"

"Yes, I've had enough. I'd like to get on with the gardening now. I think
I'll do the lawns first. Have you got a lawn-mower?"

"Lawn-mower? Oh yes, there might be one in the shed. You'll have to look"