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.
[pg 76]
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 dislike 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,[pg 77] 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[pg 78] 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[pg 79] 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[pg 80] 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,[pg 81] 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[pg 82] 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[pg 83] 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.
[pg 84]
“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[pg 85] 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[pg 86] 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[pg 87] 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[pg 88] 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.
[pg 89]
“why, i do believe you’re our white chess king!” she cried out. “father will be glad that you are found again.”
