Chapter XX: The Last 264 (2)

It was not long before they reached the outskirts of Dolltown. On either side of the river were rows of houses in which the poorer dolls, mostly wooden and rag, lived. The weather was warm, and many of the fronts of the houses stood wide open, showing the inside of the four rooms into which each of them was divided. There were generally a kitchen and a dining-room on the ground floor, and a drawing-room and a bedroom above. None of these houses had staircases, and it was puzzling to think how the dolls could get into the upstairs rooms. Wooden explained, when Peggy asked her, that the dolls either climbed in through the windows, or, if the house-front was open, put a kitchen chair on the kitchen table, and scrambled up somehow. Those who were not strong enough to do so had to spend the night sitting on chairs in the kitchen or dining-room.

“Isn’t that rather uncomfortable for them?” asked Peggy.

“Well, dear, perhaps it is rather,” said Wooden. “But, you see, we’re not so particular as you are, so we don’t feel it so much.”

“But didn’t you say there wasn’t any night in Toyland?” asked Peggy.

“Perhaps, I did, dear. I say so many things in the course of time that I can’t possibly remember all of them. But there is one thing I should never do, and that is tell a lie.”

Peggy looked at her quickly, fearing that she might be offended, but her face still wore its amiable sweet-tempered expression, and when Peggy gave her a kiss, just in _case_ she might have said something to hurt her, she kissed her back, and called her a precious lamb.

Some of the dolls’ houses that they were passing were quite well furnished. Others had furniture a good deal too large for the rooms, but the dolls seemed all to be of one size, and Wooden told Peggy that, however large or small a doll might be in the nursery, when it got home to Toyland it became as large as life.

All the inhabitants of these small houses came thronging down to the banks of the river to see the procession of animals, and to cheer the royal ark as it passed along. Peggy noticed that the wooden dolls cheered more heartily than the wax dolls and china dolls and composition dolls. In fact one party of Dutch dolls became so excited as the ark passed that they all fell into the river, and had to be rescued by Mr. Noah’s youngest son, who was attending to the elephants. All were got safely to land, except the father of the Dutch doll family, who swam out and clung to the ark, and was dragged on board by Mr. Noah himself.

Just at the moment when this was happening Wooden’s aunt came out of the saloon, and seemed highly delighted at the scene. She bent down and slapped her knees with both her hands, and then threw her head back and roared with laughter.

“Lawks! I wouldn’t have missed that for anything,” she said, when the Dutch doll had been led below. “Well, I’ve had a nice little nap, girls, and now I’ve come to cheer you all up a bit.”

“Then behave yourself, do, Polly,” said Wooden’s mother severely, “and don’t let’s have any more of your carryings on.”

When the Dutch doll was quite dry he insisted upon being led into the presence of “the company.” Mr. Noah had lent him his second-best yellow robe, in which he looked rather funny, as it was too long for him. He came up the steps from the saloon, and, tripping over the skirt of the robe, fell flat at the feet of Wooden’s aunt, who roared with laughter at him again.

So far from getting up again as quickly as possible, the Dutch doll remained where he was, rubbing his forehead on the deck of the ark.

“Get up, man,” said Wooden’s mother sharply, “and don’t stop lying there like a silly.”

The Dutch doll got up, looking foolish, and bowed low to Wooden’s aunt. “I hope your Majesty is quite well,” he said. “I am very pleased to see your Majesty.”

“Lawks! he calls me ‘your Majesty!’” said Wooden’s aunt. “Well, I never! I shall die of laughing if this goes on.” And indeed it seemed likely that she would.

“The man’s silly,” said Wooden’s mother. “His ducking has turned his head. The Queen isn’t here. We’re only the party that the royal ark has been sent down for.”

But still the Dutch doll kept on bowing to Wooden’s aunt, and calling her your Majesty; and Wooden’s aunt enjoyed it.

Lady Grace intervened in her polite and aristocratic manner. “Don’t you know Queen Rosebud by sight?” she asked. “In calling this lady your Majesty you are coming very near to telling a story.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that, my lady,” said the Dutch doll, much shocked. “Queen Rosebud is dead, you know.”

“I feared it,” said Wooden. “It is very sad.”

Lady Grace turned pale. “She was a loving mistress and a great Queen,” she said.

Wooden’s mother said, “Yes, she was. But crying out about it won’t bring her to life again, poor thing!” And Wooden’s aunt had the grace to leave off with her nonsense, and say, “I’m sure I’m sorry to hear the news. Then who is going to be Queen now?”

“You are, your Majesty,” said the Dutch doll, bowing to her again. “King Selim is going to marry you.”

“What, marry me!” exclaimed Wooden’s aunt, forgetting to be vulgar for once, in her surprise. “Well, I never! Why, I hardly know the gentleman.”

“Surely you are making some mistake,” said Lady Grace.

The Dutch doll looked offended. “Do you think I’d tell you a lie?” he asked.

“Oh, no, of course he wouldn’t do that,” said Wooden hastily. “If he says so, of course it is so. But you’re not Queen yet, aunt.”

“No, nor never will be, if you don’t learn to behave proper,” said Wooden’s mother. “If I was you I should keep quiet till the wedding ceremony.”

Wooden’s aunt seemed to think this was good advice, for she gave no more trouble till the ark drew up at the royal quay in the middle of Dolltown.

V

ARRIVAL AT THE ROYAL PALACE OF DOLLTOWN

The Royal Quay was a great open space carpeted with red felt, and decorated with palms and flowers. Wooden soldiers were standing all round the square, and inside it was a royal carriage with six wooden horses, and servants in scarlet liveries. A little troop of lead soldiers on black horses was drawn up by the carriage, and looked very gallant with their scarlet tunics, silver breastplates and helmets and waving plumes. Lady Grace blushed when she saw that the head of the troop was Colonel Jim, and said to Peggy, “The rather nice-looking officer is a friend of mine, dear. I will introduce him to you when I get an opportunity.”

Behind the wooden soldiers was a great crowd of dolls, all cheering themselves hoarse as the royal ark was being tied up by the quay, and the bridge was being run out. Peggy noticed that there were no wax dolls among them, and rather wondered at this, but had not time to ask about it in the excitement of the moment.

Just by the landing stage was a little group of gentlemen dolls. The most important person in it was an old gentleman doll of patriarchal aspect. He had no beard, but his head was completely bald, and he was dressed in a long gown of black velvet. As soon as the bridge between the quay and the ark was put into position, he came forward with his party on to the platform of the ark, and bowed low before Wooden, who happened to be standing a little in front of the rest.

“Welcome, your Majesty,” he said, “to the Capital of your kingdom of Toyland. I will explain why I thus address you later.”

Wooden was quite taken back, and could only stammer out, “But Mr.--Mr.--I don’t know your name, but----”

“My name is Norval,” said the old gentleman doll. “And I am the Lord Chancellor of your Majesty’s kingdom.”

“But why do you call me your Majesty, Mr. Norval?” asked Wooden.

“_Lord_ Norval, at your Majesty’s pleasure,” corrected the Lord Chancellor. “I address you as a Queen because King Selim, successor to our late lamented Queen Rosebud, has intimated his intention of marrying you, and in these matters I feel that one cannot begin too soon. Besides, it is his Majesty’s pleasure that you should be paid every possible honour, as his highly respected bride to be.”

“But Lord Noodle!” stammered Wooden, getting his name a little wrong in her perplexity, “this gentleman said that it was my aunt here that the king wanted to marry.”

She indicated the Dutch doll, and the Lord Chancellor looked at him in anger. “Did you say that?” he asked.

Wooden’s aunt broke in before the Dutch doll could speak. “Yes, he did say it,” she said. “And I ain’t going to give up my Selim for nobody. Him and me has always been friendly like, and I wasn’t a bit surprised to hear he wanted to marry me. Why should he want to marry a young thing like Wooden, I should like to know? Why she’s like a kid beside of him! It’s me that’s going to be Queen, not her.”

“Captain Cook,” said the Lord Chancellor to a lead soldier of his party, “arrest this Dutchman for telling a lie, and arrest this woman for telling another.”

“What, me!” cried Wooden’s aunt. “How dare you accuse me of telling a lie, you old creature with a head like an egg? How dare you? What lie have I told?”

“Arrest her again for insulting the Lord Chancellor,” said Lord Norval. “You said you were going to be Queen, and that’s a lie. King Selim wouldn’t look at you. He has confided to me that he has been in love with--with--I suppose I had better say _Princess_ Wooden, for some time, and has reason to believe that she is not indifferent to him.”

“Well, he has looked at me sometimes,” said Wooden, “but I’m sure I never gave him any encouragement. I don’t like him very much, Lord Noodle. He’s a foreigner, you see, and I don’t like foreigners. Couldn’t it be arranged for him to marry my aunt, as she’s ready for him! I’d rather it was her than me.”

The Lord Chancellor looked muddled. “I couldn’t say anything without consulting his Majesty,” he said. “He _might_ consent; but then again he might not. The best way will be for us all to go up to the Palace, as already ordered, and ask him. I am sorry your aunt will have to appear there under arrest, but as she has committed a crime, or rather two crimes, that can’t be helped.”

The situation was certainly awkward. Nobody quite seemed to know what to do about it. But Peggy, who had been listening with great interest to what had been said, ventured to make a suggestion. “If Wooden’s aunt _does_ marry the King,” she said, “then she wouldn’t have told a story, would she?”

Everybody brightened up, and the Lord Chancellor said, “That is one of the cleverest things I ever heard said. But who is this ingenious and attractive-looking young lady, may I ask?”

Wooden explained to him who Peggy was, and he bowed low to her, and said he was proud to make her acquaintance. “Well, after what you have pointed out,” he said, “I have no difficulty in unarresting this lady for telling a lie. But she has also insulted a high official. She said that my head was like an egg. It may be or it may not be, but nobody could say that it was a polite thing to point out.”

He looked at Peggy as if he expected her to make another suggestion, and would not be sorry if she made it.

Peggy could think of nothing better to say than, “I like eggs myself, especially if they are new-laid.”

The Lord Chancellor caught at this instantly. “Did you have a new-laid egg in your mind when you referred to my head, Madam?” he asked of Wooden’s aunt.

Wooden’s aunt, who was looking much more subdued than usual, standing by the officer who had arrested her, said, “Well, there’s one thing I never would do, and that’s tell a lie. I can’t rightly say that I had a new-laid egg in my mind, because I won’t deceive you, I don’t know where my mind is. I went to sea early, and never had much schooling, and never learnt no physiognomy. There may be a new-laid egg in my mind, or there may not. I wouldn’t like to say.”

“What I would suggest to you, madam,” said the Lord Chancellor, “is that in likening my head to an egg you didn’t mean an old-laid egg, or an addled egg, or a bad egg, or anything of that sort. If it is like an egg at all, it was a fresh egg you meant.”

“Oh, lawks, yes,” said Wooden’s aunt. “I’d never be one for insulting a gentleman. I know what’s due to myself and my family better.”

“Then that is quite enough for me,” said the Lord Chancellor, evidently greatly relieved. “Captain Cook, unarrest this lady completely.”

“And the Dutch doll, too,” said Peggy, pleased at having succeeded so well.

“And the Dutch doll, too, of course, Captain Cook,” said the Lord Chancellor. “And my advice to you, sir, is to make yourself scarce. You have had a narrow escape, and let it be a lesson to you.”

The Dutch doll, whose knees had been knocking together with fright, picked up the skirts of Mr. Noah’s second-best yellow robe, and ran away as fast as he could. He poked in between two of the wooden soldiers guarding the quay, and was lost in the crowd. But he was an honest doll, for the next morning Mr. Noah received back his second-best robe by parcel’s post, with a note of thanks, which he could not read, as it was written in double-Dutch.

The party was now ready to land and get into the royal carriage, but just as they had stepped off on to the red carpet on the quay, the Lord Chancellor’s eyes fell upon Lady Grace, whom he seemed not to have noticed before.

His face darkened, and he said, “Why, what is this? A wax doll at large, after the royal proclamation that all Waxes are to be imprisoned! Captain Cook, do your duty instantly.”

Captain Cook stepped forward to arrest Lady Grace, who shrank away from him, while Wooden and her mother and aunt began to protest volubly against such an outrage, for they were all friendly to Lady Grace, who had always treated them with perfect politeness.

Peggy felt dreadfully frightened at the moment at all the hubbub, and at the idea of poor Lady Grace being taken off to prison; but just as she was trying to think what she could do to stop it there was an unexpected diversion. Colonel Jim, the officer in charge of the Lifeguards standing by the royal carriage, rode forward with a clatter of harness and accoutrements, and said in a loud voice, “Unhand that lady!”

There was a moment’s pause. Then the Lord Chancellor said, “Colonel Jim, you are taking a great deal upon yourself. You know what the royal proclamation was. All Waxes are to be arrested and sent to prison.”

“What for?” asked Colonel Jim, with soldierly brevity.

“The general charge against them,” said the Lord Chancellor, “is giving themselves airs.”

“Has Lady Grace ever given herself airs?” asked Colonel Jim.

“No, that she never has,” said Wooden’s mother indignantly. “I will say this for her, Wax or no Wax, that a nicer-spoken or nicer-behaved lady never stept.”

“And she was a great favourite of Queen Rosebud’s, besides,” said Wooden. “She thought the world of her.”

And even Wooden’s aunt showed up well in the emergency. “If I’m to be Queen,” she said, “I shall have Lady Grace as my own lady-in-waiting. She shall put in my hairpins for me, which I never could do rightly myself. And how’s she to do that if she’s in prison?”

Colonel Jim rode back to his troop without saying another word. But his interference had been successful, for the Lord Chancellor said, “Under the circumstances, I will not have Lady Grace arrested now. She can come with us to the Palace, and we will see what the King has to say about it.”

Then Wooden and her mother and aunt, and Lady Grace and Peggy got into the royal carriage, and the Lord Chancellor and his suite got into two other carriages. Colonel Jim and his Life Guardsmen formed themselves on either side, and with a clash and a glitter, the little procession started. The wooden soldiers all presented arms, and made a way through for them, and they drove off the quay and into the streets of Dolltown.

Peggy had been rather surprised that the dolls had not shown more grief at the sudden death of the Queen, though all of them had certainly spoken very nicely about it when the news had first come to them, and were evidently sorry that she had died. But she now began to understand that dolls do not take things in quite the same way as human beings. For one thing, there were no signs of mourning in the streets, but on the other hand there were flags on some of the houses, and all the people seemed to be out of doors watching for the royal procession, and when it appeared they cheered heartily, and seemed as happy and pleased as possible. This was all the more remarkable because, if what the Lord Chancellor had said was true, which of course it was, as he would never have told a lie, all the wax dolls in the place had already been sent off to prison, and you might have thought that that would have sobered the rest. But even the four dolls in the carriage seemed to have forgotten it, and also the unpleasant episode of Lady Grace nearly being taken off to prison, too. They were all anxious to point out to Peggy the interesting sights to be seen on either side of them, and had nothing to say about anything else, not even about what might happen when they arrived at the royal palace. And as they seemed able to forget everything but the pleasure and interest of the moment, Peggy was able to do so, too.

What she saw of Dolltown enchanted her. It was like all the toys she had ever had, and her friends had had, and she had seen in shop-windows, all become real, and not only that, but of a size to be used. All little girls know what it is to wish that they could sometimes live in their own dolls’ houses, especially in the big ones, where there are staircases that they could go up and down if only they were of the right size, and all sorts of nice furniture, and dinner-sets and tea-sets, and other things which they would like to use themselves and not always be making believe with. Well, in Dolltown, and in fact in the whole of Toyland, there was no making believe. Everything was as real as real, even the smallest things for the smallest dolls. Peggy could have used everything she saw herself, and it was really quite thrilling and delightful to feel that she could pretend to be a doll if she wanted to, and have all the fun for herself that little girls give to their dolls.

Just outside the royal quay was a large station, with platforms and signal boxes and bridges and lines of rails all complete, and a train waiting there with a bright green clockwork engine, ready to go off into the country. One of Peggy’s boy cousins had collected a splendid railway plant--his relations always gave him things for it at Christmas and on his birthdays--and Peggy had often wished she could go for a ride in it all round his playroom floor, and be shunted and go under the little tunnels, and stop at the stations, just as the tin soldiers he put into the carriages did. Well, it would be just as much fun going in this railway system, and she could get into the toy carriages just as easily as her cousin’s tin soldiers.

They crossed over the river on one of those suspension bridges that you see in shop-windows, and then climbed a hill into the town. At the beginning of the hill was a large toy fort, crammed with tin soldiers, who were looking over the parapet and cheering them as they passed.

Then they went through a street of shops, and the joints of meat hanging in the butchers’ shops, and the fish lying on the slabs of the fishmongers’ shops, and the stores in the grocery shops were all real; and specially attractive were the highly-coloured fruits.

As for the shops where they sold the baby-clothes, they were too delightful. But the first one they passed brought a most disturbing thought to Peggy. She turned to Wooden and said, “Oh, Wooden, dear, where are all the long-clothes babies! Surely they haven’t been cruel enough to send them to prison, too!”

“Oh, no, dear,” said Wooden decidedly. “Nobody is cruel in Toyland.”

Peggy did not feel quite so sure of that, considering that Lady Grace had nearly been sent to prison already for being wax; and of course most long-clothes babies are wax, or composition. “Then where are they!” she asked.

“They are all having their morning sleep, dear,” said Wooden’s mother, and Peggy had to be content.

When they reached the more important streets of Dolltown, most of the houses were built of wooden or terra-cotta bricks, and very fine some of them were. But this part of the town _was_ rather silent and deserted, for the owners of most of the fine houses were wax, and they had all been taken off to prison.

At last they reached the royal palace. It was a most gorgeous building, built of ivory, with windows made of enormous diamonds and rubies and emeralds and sapphires, all glittering in the sun.

The carriages drew up underneath an ivory porch. The Lord Chancellor was at the door of the royal one as soon as it was opened. “I will conduct you straight to his Majesty,” he said.

VI

KING SELIM HOLDS AN AUDIENCE

They were led through several magnificent ivory halls, with a great many looking-glasses in them but scarcely any furniture, and into the great Hall of Audience, where there was a lovely ivory throne on a daïs at one end, and on either side of the Hall a row of ivory chairs.

Here Peggy had two great surprises.

The first surprise was the new King, who was sitting on the throne. Directly she saw him, Peggy exclaimed, “Why, he’s a White Chess King!”

And so he was, though none of the dolls seemed to know it. His crown was on his head, and he had a face underneath it, which chess kings don’t have, and, although he was wood himself, his robes did not appear to be. But there was no doubt about his being a chess king, in spite of these differences, and the moment she saw him Peggy had the feeling that he ought not to be King of Toyland, for he wasn’t a real doll that children play with, but only part of a game for grown-ups.

The King was sitting on his throne when they came into the Hall, and standing by his side on the daïs was a lady doll. And this was Peggy’s second surprise. For the lady doll was no other than Rose, who had once been her own doll--the one she had given to Mabel in exchange for Wooden.

Now, as we know, Peggy had never really loved Rose; she had tried to, but had not succeeded. But she had not come to _dis_like her in any way, and had kissed her affectionately when she had given her up to Mabel, and told her that she would come to see her sometimes. And she had done this now and then, until Mabel’s father had left the village shortly afterwards, and taken Mabel and Rose with him.

But now, directly she set eyes on Rose again, and recognized her, Peggy felt that she did dislike her. She looked very proud, for one thing, and pride is not a quality that becomes anybody, least of all dolls, who are generally free from it. She also looked bad-tempered, and that again is a fault from which dolls are usually free. The only point to admire about her was her good looks, but as Peggy had never been able to love her because of them when she had been her own doll they did not recommend her now. Peggy felt once for all that she had been quite right in not liking Rose, and also felt that it would be impossible ever to like her.

But we must get on. Directly the party introduced by the Lord Chamberlain made its appearance at the door of the Hall of Audience, the King rose from his throne. As they advanced up the Hall, he stepped down from the daïs, and approaching Wooden, bowed to her in a stately but somewhat foreign fashion, and took her hand. Then he said with great respect, “Madame, our wedding will take place in half an hour, and our coronation half an hour after that. I wish to get both ceremonies over before tea-time.”

He spoke in an imperious way, and although there was a sort of smile on his face as he looked at Wooden, showing that she was dear to him, it was not altogether a pleasant smile; nor did King Selim seem to Peggy an agreeable person. He was tall and fat and ugly, and looked as if he ate and drank too much.

Wooden was taken aback by the suddenness of the proposal. And no wonder! It must be remembered that she hardly knew King Selim, and had had no idea until half an hour before of anything in the nature of a marriage with him. And, although he had smiled at her, he had not uttered a word of love, nor even asked if she wanted to marry him or not. No lady would like a gentleman simply to tell her that he was going to marry her in half an hour, even if the gentleman _was_ a King.

“I don’t know, your Majesty,” she said hesitatingly. “Of course it’s a great honour you’re doing me. But I haven’t thought of such a thing, and--and----”

The Lord Chancellor stepped forward and bowed to the King. “Your Majesty,” he said. “I am empowered by this lady to make a suggestion to you. Would it be the same to your Majesty if you were to marry the lady’s aunt instead of her? She has the advantage of being wood, and of possessing considerable personal attractions. Wooden’s Aunt, kindly step forward, and display those attractions to his Majesty.”

Wooden’s aunt stepped forward, dropped a curtsy to the King, and smirked.

The King’s face darkened, and he was about to speak, when Rose, who was still standing by the throne on the daïs, interrupted. “Your Majesty,” she said, “this woman is not at all suitable for the purpose that has been suggested. She lives in the same part of the country over there as I used to, and I know all about her. She is quite a common woman--I believe she was once a sort of stewardess on a ship--and, if I may so express myself, it is like her impudence to think of marrying your Majesty.”

Wooden’s aunt bridled. “And who are you, I should like to know,” she burst out, “to call me common? Common yourself! I dare say you think yourself very grand now, talking to a Majesty, but I’ve seen you dressed in dirty pink flannelette, and held head-downwards by one foot, over there. So there now, Miss Superior! Common, indeed! _I_’ll learn you!”

From these two speeches, Peggy understood that when dolls in Toyland talked about the world of real people they called it “over there.”

“Peace, woman!” ordered the King in an angry voice. “How dare you make a brawl in my royal palace?”

Wooden’s aunt was affected by the majesty of his demeanour, which was certainly that of a King, though not perhaps of a good king. She shrank back, and Selim went on: “I have no idea of marrying this woman, Norval, and I wonder at your suggesting such a thing. But before we talk about that I should like to know how it comes about that a wax doll is brought into my presence, when I have given orders that all Waxes are to be imprisoned. And I should also like to know who this human child is, and how _she_ comes here. It looks to me very much like prying.”

King Selim had very bushy eyebrows, and he bent them with a terrific frown upon Peggy and Lady Grace, as he spoke.

Lady Grace shrank back, evidently frightened by Selim’s anger. But Peggy wasn’t frightened at all. She knew somehow that she had nothing to fear from a chess king, however angrily he might look at her. She even thought that she might be able to do something to save Lady Grace, if the King tried to punish her for being wax. But at present she thought she had better keep quiet, and see what happened.

The Lord Chancellor did not seem to be frightened of the new King either. He said, in a chatty sort of way, “Now those are both very interesting questions, your Majesty, and I shall be delighted to discuss them with you. Then there’s the question of your marriage to be decided, and several other little matters, which will give us quite an agreeable discussion, if we take them one by one. What I say is, let’s have an Audience.”

The King stepped back on to the daïs and whispered to Rose, who shrugged her shoulders and looked disagreeable, but did not seem to be able to object to the proposal.

“Very well,” said the King, seating himself on his throne. “We’ll have an Audience.”

The Lord Chancellor seemed pleased at the idea of an Audience. “Bring in the Woolsack,” he said to the royal servant dolls, who were standing round the daïs; and two of them went out, and came back with a large sack of wool, which they placed in the middle of the Hall. The Lord Chancellor took his seat on it, facing the throne, but it was so soft that he fell back into it, and it covered him up so completely that only two little thin legs could be seen sticking into the air. But the two royal servants quickly rescued him, and sat him in the middle of the sack, which bulged up all round him. He laughed in a very good-humoured way at his mishap, and said, “Now the rest of you take your seats, please, and then we’ll begin.”

All the company sat down on the ivory chairs on either side of the Hall, except Rose, who still stood at the right of the King on his throne.

“Now we must have everything quite in order,” said the Lord Chancellor cheerfully. “I don’t know who the lady is standing by his Majesty. I’ve nothing to say against her whatever. In fact, I’m sure she will be of great assistance to us in our important deliberations. But I should like her to take her place with the rest, please.”

“I am advising his Majesty on behalf of the Composition dolls,” said Rose hastily. “It is his Majesty’s wish that I should keep by him. Please get on with the Audience, and don’t fuss.”

“Oh, if it’s his Majesty’s wish, I’ve nothing more to say,” said the Lord Chancellor genially. “I only thought you would be more comfortable sitting down. Now the first thing to be done is to announce what steps have been taken by your Majesty for the welfare of the Kingdom of Toyland. Let’s have it all, please, from the time you received the last wishes of our dear lamented Queen Rosebud.”

The King frowned. “I don’t want to have to go into all that again,” he said. “I want my questions answered.”

“All in good time, your Majesty,” said the Lord Chancellor. “But let’s have your statement first, please.”

Peggy quite expected that the King would refuse, and might even do something to the Lord Chancellor for giving him an order in that sort of way. But it seemed as if it was difficult for a doll to refuse to obey any order, if it was given with enough firmness. At any rate, the King obeyed this one, although he frowned and looked very disagreeable about it.

“Well, if you must have it,” he said, “when the late lamented Queen Rosebud was nearing her end she told me that she wished me to reign over Toyland in her place.”

“Will you kindly make a note of this?” said the Lord Chancellor to his secretary, who was standing beside him. “Take it all down in shorthand; then we shall know where we are. Go on, please, your Majesty.”

“That’s all,” said the King. “Queen Rosebud said I was to reign, and I’m reigning.”

“Did his Majesty say it was raining?” asked the secretary.

“No, no,” said the Lord Chancellor testily. “The King said _he_ was reigning--with a ‘g.’ Keep your ears open, please. Well, that’s all in order, then. Now what about the imprisonment of all wax dolls, your Majesty? Let’s have that explained, please.”

The King frowned again. “Have I got to explain everything I do, when I’m already King?” he asked.

“Yes, please, your Majesty,” said the Lord Chancellor firmly.

“Well, then,” said the King, “I was given reason to believe that there would be a revolution among the Waxes, when it was known that a wooden King was to succeed a wax Queen, and I took steps to prevent it, that’s all.”

“Who gave your Majesty reason to believe such a thing?” asked the Lord Chancellor. “I am China myself, but I have always lived on good terms with Waxes and Woodens alike--Compositions and Rags, too, for the matter of that--and I believe I may say the same of most of the inhabitants of this happy country. I see no reason to believe that there would have been a revolution of any sort, when it was given out that Queen Rosebud had nominated you as her successor.”

“Did you say that she abominated her professor?” asked the secretary. “You talk so very fast.”

The King broke in before the Lord Chancellor could reply. “Are you giving me a lecture?” he asked angrily.

“Yes,” said the Lord Chancellor. “Will your Majesty kindly answer my question?”

“No, I won’t,” said the King. “It is enough to say that I gave orders that if there was any trouble among the dolls landing from over there, a gun was to be fired. The gun _was_ fired, and I ordered the Waxes to be locked up at once.”

“The gun was fired by mistake,” said Wooden’s mother sensibly. “I saw the soldier’s ears boxed for firing it with my own eyes.”

“Did she say she fired it with her own eyes?” asked the secretary. “She does mumble so.”

“Mistake or no mistake,” said the King, “the gun was fired, and the Waxes were locked up. And now we’ve finished all that, I should like to know what this lady is doing here, when she ought to be in prison.”

He frowned terrifically at Lady Grace, who was sitting between Peggy and Wooden. Peggy took hold of her hand. Although Lady Grace was grown up, and she was only a little girl, she felt that she must protect her. For after all she was her own dearly loved doll, and Peggy was not going to have her bullied by a chess king, if she could help it.

It was Wooden who answered, in her calm, kind voice. “Lady Grace was a favourite lady-in-waiting of dear Queen Rosebud,” she said. “I think it would be a great pity to send her to prison, and I hope you won’t do it, your Majesty.”

King Selim’s face grew softer as Wooden spoke. Her voice was evidently music in his ears. Perhaps he would have given way at once, but before he could say anything, Rose, who was still standing by the side of the throne, spoke. “It isn’t safe to leave any wax dolls free to go about,” she said. “They will only stir up trouble. Compositions are quite as good as Waxes, and anything that Waxes could do, such as acting as ladies-in-waiting to royalty, Compositions can do.”

“_You_’re not even Composition,” broke in Wooden’s aunt, who had been glowering at Rose all along, and seemed to have forgotten her own fright. “You’re Composition down to the neck, and your hands and feet and the rest of you is stuffed rag. Yes, _stuffed rag_! So there, Sawdust!”

The Lord Chancellor held up his hand. “That is a very serious accusation to bring against a lady,” he said. “I understood the lady to claim that she was Composition. Do you mean to accuse her of telling a lie, madam?”

“I’ve seen her held upside down by the leg,” said Wooden’s aunt. “Composition below, sawdust above. Deny it if you can.”

Rose did not deny it. She looked as if she were going to, but her eyes rested on Peggy, and she knew that Peggy knew all the truth about her. She burst into angry tears. “It is most offensive to be addressed in that way by a vulgar creature like that,” she said. “Before gentlemen, too! She hasn’t got any legs at all, herself, over there. Nor a nose either. She’s a regular figure of fun.”

The King put out his hand to soothe her. “The first law I shall make,” he said, “will be that no doll in my dominions shall ever refer to the deficiencies of another doll over there, under pain of imprisonment. I feel very strongly on the subject. That is why I object to human children being brought over here to pry, and perhaps to tell tales. I shall make a law forbidding that, too.”

“I think it would be a pity to do away with the good feeling that exists between us and human children,” said the Lord Chancellor. “Allowing one of them occasionally to visit us here is the only return we can make for special kindness. I shouldn’t make that law if I were you, your Majesty.”

“When I was at the head of my Pieces over there,” said the King, “there was a horrible child who used to put my head in her mouth. She had at the time only one tooth, but I bear the marks of that tooth upon me to this day.”

Directly he had spoken, a sudden memory came back to Peggy. A year or so before, her father had wanted to play a game of chess with a friend. The chess-men had been brought out, but it had been found that the white king was missing. Then it had come out that Peggy had had him to play with when she had been a baby, and he had not been seen since. Of course she had been too young to remember playing with him, but she felt almost certain that King Selim was the very same piece, especially as he was exactly the same in pattern as the black king, who still remained.

“Why, I do believe you’re our white chess king!” she cried out. “Father _will_ be glad that you are found again.”

VII

THEY ALL GO TO PRISON

It would be impossible to describe the consternation that Peggy’s remark caused in the Hall of Audience. King Selim grew purple in the face with passion, and cried out in a terrible voice, “Arrest this Human instantly, and take her off to prison. She has spoken the truth, and it shall be her own undoing.”

Some royal guards stepped forward to do his bidding, and there was a great commotion among the other dolls in the Hall.

But before the soldiers could reach Peggy, the Lord Chancellor made his voice heard above the hubbub. “Half a moment! Half a moment! Half a moment!” he kept on calling out, louder and louder, and quicker and quicker, until the words sounded like “Ar-mo! Ar-mo!” The soldiers paused, and the noise died down, until he could make himself heard.

“It is rather a serious thing to arrest a Human, your Majesty,” he said. “I don’t think it has ever been done before, and it may make a deal of trouble. We ought to be careful how we go.”

The King was still almost beside himself with rage. “Do you think I am going to let my enemy go, now I have got her in my power at last?” he cried. “Yes, that’s the odious child who made these scars.”

Since his face had become so red, a lot of little white marks had come out all over it. They were the marks of Peggy’s dear little first tooth, and she couldn’t help laughing as she looked at them, which made the King angrier still.

“How dare you laugh?” he cried passionately. “I’ll send you to prison, and keep you on bread and water and mustard. I’ll execute you. I’ll have your ears boxed three times a day, an hour before meals and half an hour after. If my mouth was big enough I’d bite _your_ head, and see how _you_ liked it. Arrest her instantly and take that wax doll with her as well, and the woman who dared to think she was going to marry me. Do it at once, and don’t you dare to cross my royal will any longer, Norval, or I’ll have you arrested, too.”

As the King had given way when the Lord Chancellor spoke firmly, so the Lord Chancellor now gave way when the King spoke firmly. He shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Well, I think you are making a mistake, your Majesty, but if you say it is to be done, of course it must be done.”

Wooden rose from her seat as the officials prepared to carry out the King’s orders. “If they are to go to prison,” she said, “I shall go, too, and so will mother. Then we can all keep each other company. I expect they will take us to the House of Cards, dear,” she said in a lower voice to Peggy. “It is very nice there, and there is a lovely view.”

Now it might have been thought that King Selim would have hesitated before letting Wooden go off to prison, considering he had just told her that he intended to marry her in half an hour. But he was so beside himself with rage that he hardly knew what he was doing or saying. “Take the whole lot of them off,” he ordered, “and don’t let me see their ugly faces again.” Then he gathered up his robes and stalked off the daïs and out of the Hall, by a door at the back, which he banged after him.

The royal guards now approached the five prisoners, but did not take hold of them or put handcuffs on them, or anything of that sort. For the Lord Chancellor said to them, “Go easy, now! It’s only a little flash in the pan, ladies. The King is rather irritable by nature, and I don’t think his lunch has agreed with him. But he will think better of this by-and-by, and you will all be let out again.”

“Not if I know it,” said a haughty, scornful voice.

It was Rose, who still stood on the daïs, and was looking at them with a cruel joy, which she made no effort to disguise.

Her contemptuous gaze fell upon each of them in turn, but when she came to Peggy it turned into one of absolute ferocity. She stretched out her forefinger, and pointed at her. “Base human,” she addressed her. “I never thought to get you into my power, but now I have you you will rue the day when you came across the path of Rose, who never forgets and never forgives.”

“Tut! tut!” said the Lord Chancellor. “These are hard words, madam, and quite out of order.”

“Silence!” cried Rose, in a terrible voice, and flashing a terrible look at him from her dark and flaming eyes. And the Lord Chancellor shrugged his shoulders again, and kept silence, until she had finished her oration.

“Was it not enough,” she said, “that I should be born into the world over there as the property of a human child whom I despised and hated, but I must be treated by her with the grossest indignity?”

Peggy thought this was a little too much. She was not in the least frightened of Rose, nor of the King, nor of all the palace guards put together, and thought it would be rather amusing to go to a dolls’ prison, and see what it was like. But she was not going to be stormed at and told stories about by Rose.

“Why did you hate me?” she asked. “I was always kind to you, and I would have loved you if you had let me.”

Rose laughed her scornful laugh. “As if I wanted _your_ love!” she exclaimed. “Or the love of any human child! I hate the whole tribe of them, and wish I could have them _all_ over here, and tell them what I thought of them.”

“Oh, this is quite out of order, quite out of order,” said the Lord Chancellor fussily. “I wish you would finish what you have to say, madam, and let us get on with our work. You are keeping us all waiting.”

Rose took no notice of him, but went on. “You exchanged me,” she said, “for a battered wreck of a wooden doll, without a vestige of beauty such as mine, or indeed of any sort.”

“Who are you talking about, Miss Imperence?” said Wooden’s aunt, suddenly breaking in. “This young lady exchanged you for my niece, who is going to be Queen when she comes out of prison. You’d better be a bit more careful of what you say; that’s my advice to _you_. And don’t forget that what we can’t see of you is stuffed with sawdust.”

“Yes, I should leave off, if I were you,” said the Lord Chancellor. “You are not being polite, you know, and it is quite true what the lady says. It is the future Queen of Toyland that you seem to have been exchanged for, and his Majesty won’t like it if you call her names.”

Rose laughed her scornful laugh again. “_She_ will never be Queen of Toyland,” she said. “I’ll see to that.” And with a toss of her head and a swish of her skirts she swept out of the Hall, by the door through which the King had already disappeared.

The Lord Chancellor completely recovered his good humour the moment she was gone. “What a very talkative lady!” he said, with a laugh. “However, we needn’t worry our heads about her. We’ve got plenty to occupy ourselves about, haven’t we?”

It really seemed as if they had. It is not every day that five ladies are taken off to prison, not knowing when they will be let out again; and the experience would naturally make them think. But the four dolls did not seem to be much cast down by the prospect, and Wooden kept on assuring Peggy that the House of Cards was a very nice prison, and there was a magnificent view from the upper stories.

The Lord Chancellor proposed that they should walk to the prison, so that Peggy might see some of the life of Dolltown before she was shut up. “I should have liked to take you about myself,” he said politely, “and to show you some hospitality during your visit. It’s a pity you didn’t come when Queen Rosebud was alive. However, we must make the best of things, mustn’t we? I’ll see that you’re comfortable, and have plenty of pot-plants. We might buy a few as we go along. I like pot-plants.”

They set out. The Lord Chancellor gave the palace guards instructions to walk behind. “The people will think they are just a guard of honour,” he explained kindly. “If they were to put handcuffs on you, it would be different. But I have always been one for making things comfortable all around. Live and let live is my motto.”

He walked between Peggy and Wooden as they went through the streets, and turned out to be a pleasant, chatty old gentleman, with a well-stored mind, and a fund of varied information. He told Peggy a good deal that interested her about the conditions of life in Dolltown, and she found it difficult to believe that she was really being taken to prison, and quite enjoyed her walk.

The streets were gay, and crowded with dolls of all sorts except those made of wax. A good deal of interest was aroused by the little procession, with the six palace guards bringing up the rear. Gradually a crowd of dolls gathered and walked with them, so that the streets became rather full, and the dolls who were driving the toy hansom cabs, and the toy motors, and the toy carts, had some difficulty in making their way along.

The Lord Chancellor seemed to enjoy the attention that was being drawn to them, but also to be a little anxious about being recognized. He called his secretary to him, and said, “You might just tell some of the people that the elderly gentleman in the velvet gown, with a learned and amiable expression of face, is the Lord Chancellor. Then they will hand it on to the others. We will go into this shop and buy some pot-plants.”

They went into a flower-shop, full of toy flowers in very bright red pots, and the Lord Chancellor made a handsome purchase, and paid for it with toy money, which Peggy thought most fascinating. She wished she had brought some of hers with her, for she had had a lot given to her for a Christmas present, and would have been quite rich with it in Toyland. The pots were given to the guards to carry, and they said good-bye to the nice pleasant woman doll who kept the shop, and set out again.

While they had been in the shop, the Lord Chancellor’s secretary had been telling everybody who they were, and also that they were all on their way to prison. He had not been told to say this, but he was rather stupid. The only reason why he was kept on was that he was so willing. But this time he had been a little too willing, for a lot of the doll people were inclined to be angry at so much sending to prison, and some of them thought that the Lord Chancellor could have stopped it if he had liked.

So when they all came out of the shop, there were not quite so many smiles for them as before, and there were even a few boos and hisses as they continued on their way.

The Lord Chancellor looked surprised and pained. “Now I did think that when they were told who I was they would be pleased,” he said. “I must say that I do like people to like me, and it makes me positively miserable if they don’t. What can I have done? There isn’t a smut on my nose, or anything like that, is there?”

“No,” said Wooden. “There is only a small pimple that people might mistake for a smut if they were a little short-sighted.”

“Ah, then I expect that is it,” said the Lord Chancellor. “That pimple has been growing lately, and I always feared that it would bring me trouble.”

Peggy now began to be a little frightened, for the crowd of dolls was pressing more closely round them, and the hisses and the booing were beginning to get louder. Many of the dolls looked angry, too, and she found that it was one thing to laugh at a single chess king being angry, and quite another to have several hundred dolls as large as life jostling round her in a crowd.

You see, an angry doll is not what you are accustomed to, and you are always apt to be a little frightened at something that is quite strange.