And then they both together had the Great Idea: Nanny Cook would train to be a real cook and Nanny Butler would train to be a real butler. They would start the very next day and be fully trained by the wedding.

But you’ll have to be a parlourmaid, really, said Nanny Cook.

Certainly not,€ said Nanny Butler. I haven’t the figure for it. I shall be a real butler and I shall valet Mr. Dearly, which will need no training as I’ve done it since the day he was born.

And so when the Dearlys and the Pongos got back from their joint honeymoon, there were Nanny Cook and Nanny Butler, fully trained, ready to welcome them into the little house facing Regent’s Park.

It came as something of a shock that Nanny Butler was wearing trousers.

Wouldn’t a black dress with a nice frilly apron be better?€ suggested Mrs. Dearly rather nervously, because Nanny Butler had never been her Nanny.

You can’t be a butler without trousers,€ said Nanny Butler firmly. But I’ll get a frilly apron tomorrow. It will add a note of originality.€ It did.

The Nannies said they no longer expected to be called Nanny, and were now prepared to be called by their surnames, in the correct way. But though you can call a cook Cook,€ the one thing you cannot call a butler is Butler,€ so in the end both Nannies were just called Nanny, darling,€ as they always had been.

After the dogs and the Dearlys had been back from their honeymoons for several happy weeks, something even happier happened. Mrs. Dearly took Pongo and Missis across the park to St. John’s Wood, where they called on their good friend, the Splendid Veterinary Surgeon. She came back with the wonderful news that the Pongos were shortly to become parents. Puppies were due in a month.

The Nannies gave Missis a big lunch to keep her strength up, and Pongo a big lunch in case he should feel neglected (as the fathers of expected puppies sometimes do), and then both dogs had a long afternoon nap on the best sofa. By the time Mr. Dearly came home from business they were wide awake and asking for a walk.

Let us all go for a walk, to celebrate,€ said Mr. Dearly, after hearing the good news. Nanny Cook said the dinner was well ahead, and Nanny Butler said she could do with a bit of exercise, so off they all set along the Outer Circle.