the first thing colonel jim did when he had thrown off his disguise was to bow politely to all of them. but to lady grace he did more than that. he took her hand and kissed it respectfully, and then said, “very sorry to see you here, my lady. forming plans to get you out. disgraceful affair altogether!”
lady grace looked pleased at the attention paid to her, and blushed. peggy had not known before that dolls could fall in love, but it was quite plain that lady grace was in love with handsome colonel jim. it seemed plain also that he was in love with her. he spoke in short sharp sentences because he was a soldier, and loved deeds better than words. but there was a tenderness in his manner when he addressed lady grace which he did not show to anybody but her, though his manners were always courteous.
wooden’s aunt gave a screech of enjoyment when [pg 125]colonel jim kissed lady grace’s hand, and said,[pg 126] “lawks! i wish i’d got a handsome beau like that.” but nobody took any notice of her, as there was so much to talk about. wooden’s mother requested colonel jim to take a seat, which he did, and proceeded to explain himself.
“didn’t hear you were shut up till teddy bear came and told me so,” he said. “determined at once to use the pass-word for the day, which i knew, as commanding troops at palace. pass-word ‘pot-plants.’ so concocted plan with teddy bear, and here i am.”
peggy wondered that she had not known who he was under his disguise. but he had not then spoken in the military way he used now, as he had, of course, been playing his part as well as he could.
“and very pleased we are to see you, colonel jim,” said wooden, in her nice gentle manner. “it’s a sad thing, this shutting up of waxes and others. i’m sure dear queen rosebud would never have allowed it, if she had been alive.”
“it’s my belief,” said colonel jim, “that queen rosebud is alive.”
all the dolls exclaimed, in surprise. and wooden said, after the pause which followed, “but king selim said that she was dead, colonel jim. we all heard him with our own ears.”
[pg 127]
“i know that,” said colonel jim shortly.
there was another pause of consternation. “do you mean that you think the king has told an untruth?” asked lady grace, in an awestruck voice.
“yes,” said colonel jim.
another pause. “it would be a dreadful thing if he had,” said wooden. “he wouldn’t deserve to be king if he could do a thing like that, would he?”
“he doesn’t deserve it,” said colonel jim.
nobody spoke. the matter was too serious to be treated in a light conversational way, and it was felt that colonel jim must have more to tell them, if he could only get it out.
he seemed to feel, himself, that he owed them explanations, and must try to make them as clear as possible, for he spoke slowly, and in longer sentences than he usually employed. he could do this all right if he liked.
“it was rose who put him up to it all,” he said. “she’s mad all the time because she isn’t wax.”
“and only half composition,” put in wooden’s aunt.
“well, that’s as may be,” said colonel jim. “anyhow, she got him to let her nurse the queen, and told him to give out that she was dead. she wasn’t dead at all, but getting better all the time.”
[pg 128]
“do you mean that she told a story?” asked wooden, in a voice of consternation.
“yes,” said colonel jim. “i do.”
“well,” said wooden, “i never liked her; but i did not think she would go so far as that.”
“it’s depravity,” said wooden’s mother. “that’s what i call it; positive depravity.”
“well, that’s as may be,” said colonel jim again. “anyhow, that’s what she did.”
“how did you find out about rose so cleverly?” asked lady grace.
colonel jim looked pleased at being called clever, which he wasn’t very. “one of my troopers is going to be married to rose’s maid,” he said. “she heard them talking—rose and selim—and told him about it. he came and told me. very proper thing to do. made him a lance-corporal on the spot. he marries the maid tomorrow. shall give them a wedding present. silver pepper-castor.”
“then, where is dear queen rosebud?” asked wooden. “i am so glad she isn’t dead after all. i wish we could see her.”
“this is my month to be in waiting,” said lady grace. “could you take me to her, do you think?”
“afraid that’s impossible,” said colonel jim.[pg 129] “don’t know where she is. she was taken out of the palace and hidden somewhere.”
“how dreadful it all sounds,” said wooden. “i shouldn’t have thought such things could have happened in toyland. i do hope they give her enough to eat.”
“i expect she’s having her tea now,” said wooden’s aunt. “if i was a queen, i’d have herrings every day.”
it was a foolish remark, as many of wooden’s aunt’s remarks were, but it turned out to be a lucky one, for it reminded peggy of something she had heard downstairs, while she was bathing the baby doll.
“i suppose she couldn’t be the lady in the top story!” she said.
they stared at her. “what do you mean, dear? what lady?” asked wooden.
“when i was downstairs just now,” said peggy, “mrs. emma was getting tea ready for the lady in the top story, and mr. emma said he was sorry for her being shut up there, and he wondered if she would like a herring for her tea.”
“did they give her one?” asked wooden’s aunt.
“no,” said peggy. “mrs. emma said that as she was wax she might not like herrings.”
“it’s the best fish out of the sea,” said wooden’s aunt, smacking her lips. “lawks! how i wish they’d bring me one!”
“adone, now!” said wooden’s mother sharply. “we’re talking about the queen in the top story, not about what you’d like to have for your tea.”
[pg 131]
“i don’t know that it is the queen,” said peggy. “but there is a lady on the top story, and she is wax. i know as much as that.”
“and it’s a good deal to know, dear,” said wooden fondly. “it was very clever of you to find it out.”
“oh, it’s the queen, right enough,” said colonel jim. “wonder we never thought of her being here before. question is now how to get at her. i wish that teddy bear was here.”
they all seemed at a loss what to do next, and the suggestions they made were not very helpful. wooden thought that it would be a good thing if teddy were to bring a very long pole and climb up to the top of the house of cards. but it was quite certain that there wasn’t a pole long enough in the whole of toyland, or anywhere else. wooden’s mother suggested throwing the queen a rope. but it was equally certain that nobody could have thrown it far enough. wooden’s aunt said, why not telephone to her? but this was silly, because there was no telephone.
by-and-by they all looked at peggy, as if they expected her to suggest something sensible. she did not like to disappoint them, as it was flattering the way they seemed to believe in her. so she knitted her brows hard, to see if she could think of something.
[pg 132]
“we could do so much more if we weren’t locked up in prison,” she said at last.
all the dolls looked at one another in admiration, and wooden said, “now, that’s one of the cleverest things i ever heard said, dear. how these things come into your head i can’t think.”
peggy didn’t think that what she had said was so clever as all that, though she had had something further in her mind when she had said it. but she was pleased at being praised; most of us are; and she wanted to be as helpful as she could.
“did you and teddy make any plan for getting us out of prison?” she asked, turning to colonel jim.
“now, i wonder what made her think of that?” said wooden’s mother.
“well, we did make a plan,” said colonel jim; “though how you guessed it i don’t know, as you couldn’t have heard us talking. our plan was this: when i’m ready to go out, i say to mr. emma, ‘i should like to look at the view.’ he says, ‘with pleasure,’ and takes me up to the top story.”
“but supposing he doesn’t say ‘with pleasure,’” suggested wooden.
colonel jim looked worried. “teddy bear said he’d[pg 133] say ‘with pleasure,’” he said. “never thought of asking what to do if he didn’t.”
“if teddy said he’d say ‘with pleasure,’ i should think he would,” said wooden. “teddy is flighty, but i have always found his word reliable.”
colonel jim brightened. “well, then, we go up to the top story,” he said. “then i look at the view, and i say—let’s see, what is it i say? i’ve learnt it all up, but it’s difficult to remember. oh, yes, i know. i say, ‘what’s that bird flying towards the sea?’ no, that’s wrong. i say, ‘what’s that bird over there?’ he says, ‘what bird? where?’ i say, ‘over there!’ pointing towards the sea. he turns to where i point, you see, and——”
“but are you sure there will be a bird to point at?” asked lady grace. “if not, won’t it be telling a story?”
“do you think it will?” asked colonel jim. “i shouldn’t like to do that.”
there was a pause. “i like the plan,” said wooden, “but that does rather interfere with it, doesn’t it?”
they all looked at peggy as if they expected her to find a way out of the difficulty; and she did so at[pg 134] once. “i think there are sure to be birds flying about,” she said, “and some of them will be flying towards the sea.”
their faces brightened, and wooden’s aunt slapped her knee. “now, doesn’t that beat all?” she said. “how she do think of things, to be sure! well, go on, soldier.”
“directly he says, ‘what bird, where?’” proceeded colonel jim, “that’s my sign. i get behind him. i whip off my cloak. i throw it over his head. i tie the cord—it’s got a cord, you see—round his arms, so that he can’t move. then i say to him, ‘your keys, please.’ then i come downstairs with the keys, unlock the doors, and off we go. well, that’s the plan, and if it all goes right i don’t think a better plan was ever invented. it’s teddy bear’s plan chiefly, but it was me who thought of saying, ‘your keys, please,’ instead of ‘hand over your keys.’ more polite.”
the plan was not received with the pleasure that colonel jim seemed to expect. wooden said doubtfully, “mr. emma is a very nice man. he might not like to have a cloak thrown over his head.”
“don’t you think he would?” asked colonel jim, in a disturbed way. “i never thought of that. what do you say, peggy?”
[pg 135]
“if you were to treat him as gently as you could,” said peggy, “and tell him that he might go downstairs to mrs. emma and the baby in five minutes, when we had all got away, he might not mind so much.”
“he couldn’t do that,” said colonel jim. “his legs would be tied up too. i forgot to say that. can’t keep everything in your head at once.”
“try again, dear,” said wooden hopefully.
“well, supposing we told mrs. emma she could go up and untie him, as we went out!” suggested peggy.
“the very thing!” exclaimed wooden’s mother. “i should never have thought of that if i had tried for a week.”
they had no time to settle anything further, for at that moment the key was heard turning in the lock outside. colonel jim had just time to put on his long cloak again before mr. emma came into the room.
he seemed not to be in quite such a good temper as before. directly he came in, he said to colonel jim, “now, then, my man, you’ve been here quite long enough. pot-plants or no pot-plants, it’s time you cleared out.”
colonel jim hesitated. peggy was afraid for the moment that he had forgotten the words he had learned[pg 136] so carefully. but they seemed to come to him all of a sudden. he straightened himself up, and said in a firm voice, but rather as if he were repeating a lesson, “i should like to go up to the top story and look at the view.”
peggy heard wooden say, “with pleasure,” under her breath, as if she were helping mr. emma to remember his part.
but unfortunately mr. emma had not learnt his part. what he did say was, “oh, you would, would you? well, i’m afraid i can’t oblige you. i’m almost run off my legs with work as it is. now you come along down with me.”
