peggy was awakened by the noise of a motor outside. it sometimes happened that her father had to go out at night, and she heard the car start off. but she generally went to sleep again as soon as ever the noise had died away.
but this time the car, instead of standing throbbing for a few minutes before the door, and then starting off down the drive and leaving everything as quiet and still as before, seemed to be coming nearer and nearer. in fact, it seemed as if it was being driven right into the room, and made such a noise that peggy opened her eyes. and when she did open them, she opened them very wide indeed, for the car was in the room, standing right at the foot of the bed. and who should be driving it but teddy, whom she had last seen lying on the pillow by her side?
and that was not nearly all, for everything was changing all around her. the apple-blossoms on the[pg 18] wall-paper had become real apple-blossoms, and were dancing in a bright spring breeze; the ceiling had melted away into blue sky; and suddenly the little birds that had been sitting in a long row on the bough which ran round the top of the paper flew up all together and filled the air with their singing.
peggy sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. when she looked again there was wooden standing by the side of the bed, smiling at her.
“get up, dear,” said wooden in the kind and gentle voice that peggy had known she would speak in if she ever spoke at all. “i am going to take you to toyland.”
teddy spoke at the same moment. he waved a paw in the air and said, “what ho! what larks!” and sounded his motor-horn.
now the moment that wooden and teddy spoke, peggy left off being surprised altogether. everything seemed quite natural, and she jumped up full of pleasure at the idea of an adventure.
the moment her feet had touched the floor, lo and behold! she was fully dressed, in a clean blue over-all, with her outdoor shoes and her big straw hat trimmed with daisies. her face and hands were washed, her nails scrubbed, and her teeth cleaned; and her long[pg 19] hair, which was always plaited for the night, was brushed and tied up with her blue ribbon.
“come along, dear,” said wooden, taking her hand. “we must start at once. are you quite ready, lady grace?”
“yes,” said a soft, musical voice. peggy looked towards the dressing-table, and there was lady grace pinning on her hat. she came and kissed peggy. “i am sure you will like toyland, dear,” she said, “and it is a great honour to be taken there.”
both wooden and lady grace seemed to be grown up all of a sudden, and ready to take care of peggy, instead of her taking care of them. lady grace had on the beautiful french clothes in which she had come, and wooden was dressed in her purple velvet jacket and her grey tailor-made skirt. she wore the straw hat that had come at the same time as rose, and looked very nice altogether, but a little different, because her nose was now perfect, and her face and eyes and hair had got all their colour back. she had a wonderfully kind and simple expression of face, and peggy felt that it would be quite safe to go anywhere with her.
teddy was also life-size. peggy had always known that he was of a very cheerful nature, for his face[pg 20] had always seemed to be laughing at some joke. but he seemed to be rather forward in his manners, for as lady grace kissed peggy he said with a sort of crow,[pg 21] “what ho, girls! you jump up and sit alongside me, my lady, and we’ll have a nice little chat as we go along.”
“be careful, teddy,” said wooden in a warning voice.
“oh, i’ll be careful all right,” said teddy encouragingly. “oh, what larks we’re going to have!”
lady grace got up in front of the car, and peggy and wooden behind. it was not peggy’s father’s car, but a toy one which had been given to her. but it was now big enough to hold all four of them comfortably.
teddy sounded his horn and gave a whoop of joy, and the car drove straight out of the bedroom into the garden, though how it got there from her nursery on the first floor peggy could never remember.
now, although it had been winter when peggy went to bed, and the thermometer on the pergola outside had registered two degrees of frost, it had suddenly become the most delicious spring and summer weather combined. when peggy saw the garden she clapped her hands with delight. never was seen such a blaze of colour. everything was out at once—all the trees, and all the shrubs, and all the flowers. the house was smothered in roses and honeysuckle and clematis. the[pg 22] daffodils were dancing in the grass. the rhododendrons and azaleas flamed against the green of the darker shrubs. every flower in the long border was in full bloom, from the scarlet anemones of the early spring to the yellow sunflowers and michaelmas daisies of the late autumn; and so were the lilacs, white and purple, the guelder roses, the syringas, the may-trees and laburnums, the pink almond, and the pyrus malus floribunda, which was peggy’s favourite tree, though she never quite got its name right. there were thousands of blooms in the rose garden; the climbing roses trained over the pergola were as gay as gay could be; and even the newly-planted nut-walk had grown twelve feet in a few hours, and made a shady green tunnel through which you could see the park beyond.
but there was not much time to take in all the wonders of the garden, for teddy whirled them through it in no time, out into the road and down to the village. the car seemed to be going faster than peggy’s father’s big new one, but it travelled so easily and so smoothly that peggy, who was a little nervous of motors going very fast, said, “what a nice drive we’re having!” as they passed the clock over the abbey gateway the hands were pointing to twelve o’clock, and peggy, who could of course tell the time, knew somehow[pg 23] that it was really twelve o’clock at night, and not twelve o’clock in the daytime, although the sun was shining with all its might. and as they turned and[pg 24] drove up the village street all the windows had their blinds down, and there were no people about.
“where are we going?” peggy asked.
“we are going to toyland,” said wooden. “we all go there every night when people are asleep, and it is a lovely place; i am sure you will like it, dear. and i must tell you that it is very seldom we are allowed to take little girls there. when you were so kind to me, and rescued me from mabel, i told the queen about it, and asked if i could bring you. and she said that if you went on being kind to me for three years and a week i might bring you; but if you once grew tired of me and neglected me, the three years and a week would have to begin all over again. you can’t think how i have been looking forward to it, dear. yesterday i was able to tell the queen that you had never once neglected me, and lady grace said the same. she is one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, and she thinks a deal of her. so the queen said, ‘i shall be very glad to see such a nice little girl. bring her tomorrow.’”
when wooden told her this peggy remembered that she had not been quite so attentive to wooden since lady grace had come, and wondered what would have happened if she had left her to sleep on the chest of[pg 25] drawers with all her clothes on that very night. it would have been too awful if she had had to begin the three years and a week all over again, after so nearly getting through it once.
but wooden did not refer to that at all, and peggy felt grateful to her, and took hold of her hand and squeezed it. and wooden squeezed peggy’s hand in return, and smiled at her and said again, “toyland is a wonderful place. i am sure you will like it.”
when they had passed through the village teddy took the road towards the sea. he drove very well, and talked all the time to lady grace, sometimes leaning towards her and saying something in his gruff, hearty voice, and sometimes throwing his head back and laughing loudly. lady grace seemed to be receiving his attentions kindly, but wooden looked a little anxious, and leant forward sometimes and joined in the conversation.
“lady grace is engaged to colonel jim of the lifeguards,” she explained to peggy. “the queen takes a great interest in the young couple, and i promised her that i would give an eye to lady grace. the queen trusts me, you know, dear.”
“shall i see the queen?” asked peggy. “what is she like?”
[pg 26]
“she is not very well,” said wooden sadly. “i don’t know whether you will be able to see her, but i hope so.”
“what is the matter with her?” asked peggy.
“well they told me last night at the palace that they were afraid she had a mump.”
“what is that?”
“why, you know all about that, don’t you? you have had mumps yourself—several of them. if a doll has more than one it is generally fatal. but i quite hope that the queen has not got any; and if she is better i am sure she would like to see you. you asked what she was like. well, she is wax, of course, and she is about a hundred years old, or perhaps a thousand, or a million, but quite as beautiful as ever. she was one of the first wax dolls ever born, and they made her queen because they admired her so.”
“is there an elective monarchy in toyland?” asked peggy, who had got on quite a long way in history.
wooden did not seem to understand the question fully, but she answered in her soothing voice, “no, dear, all the animals are tame; you need not be afraid of any of them.”
they drove on towards the sea, and when they got[pg 27] within sight of it peggy cried out, and clapped her hands with pleasure.
for the sea was full of boats crowded with dolls all going to the island. it was the prettiest sight. there were hundreds of toy yachts with their white sails, steam-boats and motor-boats and clockwork boats and rowing boats, and even boats made of paper, and walnut shells. the sun was shining brightly on this gay scene, and the water was as calm as possible, so that there was no chance of anybody being seasick.
“why, they are all going over to the island!” said peggy. “are we going there, too?”
“oh, yes,” said wooden. “the island is toyland; i forgot that you didn’t know that. that is where all the dolls live. those who are finished with your world live there always, and the others go there every night. at least it is night with you, but of course it is day with us. and when it is day with you it is night with us.”
“like australia,” suggested peggy.
“yes, dear,” said wooden. “i like it very much.”
“but if you go to toyland every night, and it is day there, you never have any real night at all,” said peggy.
[pg 28]
“no, dear,” said wooden reflectively. “i suppose not.”
when they reached the shore teddy turned to the right. “are we going to the bungalow?” asked peggy.
“that is where we shall set sail for toyland,” said wooden. “and, you know, i have two relations there.”
peggy could not think what she meant for the moment. then she remembered the two wooden figure-heads, and asked wooden if they were her relations. wooden said they were. one was her mother and one was her aunt. “i’m sure you will like mother, dear,” she said. “aunt has wonderful high spirits, and doesn’t always behave as she ought, through picking up sailors’ ways. but she says herself she never did no harm to nobody, so we must overlook it.”
it was well that wooden had given peggy this warning about her aunt, or peggy might have been rather surprised at her behaviour when the car drew up before the grass-plot by the bungalow. the two figure-heads, now full length and moving about freely, were waiting for them, and when she saw them coming wooden’s aunt gave a loud screech and rushed forward[pg 29] to meet them, but caught her foot on a root of gorse and fell full length in front of the car.
teddy very cleverly stopped the car at once, or he might have run over her. then he jumped down and lifted up wooden’s aunt, who was not hurt at all, but screeched with laughter again. teddy seized her round the waist and waltzed up and down the grass with her, kicking up his legs and being very silly. peggy was surprised to see him going on like that, but wooden’s aunt seemed to enjoy it thoroughly, and when he had finished she sat plump down on the grass, with her legs sticking out in front of her, and simply roared with laughter, and said, “lawks! you are a one!”
in the meantime wooden had introduced peggy to her mother, who was as fresh as paint could make her, but had a weather-beaten look, too, and a husky voice, owing to her having taken so many sea voyages that the fog had got into her throat. she said that she was very pleased to see peggy, because she had heard a lot about her, and when they got on to the boat they must have a nice long talk.
“aunt seems in very good spirits today, mother,” said wooden, looking at her doubtfully as she was being danced about the grass by teddy. wooden’s aunt[pg 30] was really being rather common, and wooden would not like peggy to think that her relations were common.
just at that moment wooden’s aunt sat down on the grass in the rather vulgar way already described, and wooden’s mother said to her sharply, “now, polly, do adone now, and remember what company you’re in. get up, and come and be introduced to the little lady.”
so wooden’s aunt came and shook hands with peggy, and gave her a smacking kiss, which tasted of salt. “dear little precious! bless her!” she said in quite a kind voice, which made peggy like her a little better. “lawks, maria! she ain’t one to mind a body having a bit o’ fun.”
