colonel jim threw a despairing look at peggy; she could just see it under the hood that he had put over his head. his carefully arranged plan had gone wrong at the very beginning, and he hadn’t the least idea what to do next. of course, he might just as well have thrown his cloak over mr. emma’s head there and then, as done it on the top of the house of cards, after pointing to a bird which might not have been there. but perhaps he did not like to exercise violence before ladies, or perhaps it never occurred to him to alter the plan so as to suit the circumstances. at any rate, he prepared to follow mr. emma downstairs without any further ado. if peggy had not suddenly thought of something, there would have been an end of any good he had done by making his way in to them.
as they were going out, peggy said to mr. emma, “if you and mrs. emma have got so much work to do, couldn’t i come down and help you?”
[pg 138]
mr. emma turned round and beamed at her. “now, you are a kind little lady!” he said. “and i don’t know as you can’t help us. yes, you come along o’ me, dearie. my missus will be glad to see your pretty little face, anyhow, and you can talk to her a bit in her own lingo, which i never could fathom, nohow.”
peggy was very glad at that moment that she had paid attention to her french, which gave her this opportunity of helping her doll friends, though she had been far from thinking that she would ever make such extraordinary use of it when she had talked as much as she could to french people during her holidays. she followed mr. emma out of the room, and he locked the door carefully after him, and led the way downstairs.
now would have been colonel jim’s opportunity, either to throw his cloak over mr. emma, who was in front of him, or else to bolt upstairs instead of down. if he had done that, mr. emma would have had to follow him, and then they could have had it out together, and colonel jim would probably have won, as he was younger and stronger than mr. emma. but, though as brave as a lion, colonel jim had a brain that did not move very fast. all he could do, as they went downstairs, was to nudge peggy with his elbow,[pg 139] and that did not take them very far, for when she whispered to him, “what is it?” he had nothing to say.
so it rested with her to think of something, and she whispered to colonel jim, unheard by mr. emma, whose large feet were making a considerable noise, “i will try to get upstairs, and see if it is the queen who is there; and you and teddy must try to get in to us again. then i will tell you what i have found out.”
colonel jim nodded his head repeatedly, and peggy could only hope that he had understood what she had said, and would remember it, for she had not time to say it over again, as they had now reached the ground floor.
mr. emma unlocked the big door leading into the market-place, and colonel jim went out. just as he was going down the steps, peggy had another bright idea. she said to mr. emma, “we should like this man to bring us a few more pot-plants later on. i suppose you will let him in, if he comes.”
but mr. emma spoilt that little plan at the beginning, for he said, “no, dearie, i can’t do that. when he once goes out he stays out.” then he locked the door.
mrs. emma was pleased to see peggy again. she and mr. emma had had their own tea, and she was preparing trays to take up to the prisoners. peggy helped her to do this, while mr. emma sat by the cradle of his baby doll, of which he seemed to be very fond. peggy couldn’t help going over to have a look at it sometimes, and see it smile and gurgle; and it delighted mr. emma to see her so taken up with his baby doll. this was a very good thing, for when peggy said, “now, i will take up the trays, if you[pg 141] like,” mr. emma replied, “i ought not to let you do it, i suppose, because i shall have to give you my keys. but i’ve been so rushed off my legs today that i shan’t be sorry to sit still for a bit; and you’re such a nice little lady that i really feel as if i could do anything for you.”
“it is more like mademoiselle doing something for you,” said mrs. emma, with a laugh. but if she had only known, she might not have said that.
“i know you wouldn’t want to get me into trouble,” said mr. emma as he handed peggy his keys. “you won’t tell the king now, will you? he’s wood, and so am i; but he don’t seem above punishing woods, if it suits him, any more than the rest.”
peggy promised not to tell the king, readily enough. she was not quite sure that mr. emma might not get into trouble, if anything came of her taking his keys; but she made up her mind to speak up for him when affairs in toyland came to be righted, as she hoped they would be. selim was only a usurping king, after all, and if queen rosebud was restored to her throne he would not be able to do any harm to mr. emma, or to anybody else.
“first of all,” said mrs. emma, “you might take this tray up to the top story. there is a wax lady[pg 142] there who hasn’t been very well. i should like her to have her tea first.”
peggy was almost frightened at the easiness of it all. she had hardly taken any trouble to bring it about, and here she was with the key to the queen’s prison, and her tea-tray in her hands. for she had little doubt now that it was the queen who was shut up in the top story. mrs. emma had no idea who she was, but she said she had been ill, and peggy knew that the queen had been ill.
just as she was going out with the tea-tray, mrs. emma said, “don’t stay very long, because there are the other trays to take up. but you might just talk to her a little. she is a nice lady, and it is lonely for her up there, all by herself.”
this made it all the easier for peggy, and she started upstairs, thinking how luckily it had all turned out.
it took her quite a long time to reach the top story. there were four flights of stairs to each story, and each flight had ten steps. four times ten times thirteen are five hundred and twenty all the world over, and if you ever try going up five hundred and twenty stairs with a rather heavy tea-tray in your hands you will find that it is no light matter. however, peggy got to the top at last, with one or two rests on the way—but[pg 143] wait a minute. she did not have to go up the last two flights of stairs, which would have led to the roof, so that takes twenty off the total, and makes exactly five hundred steps, which is almost as serious as five hundred and twenty.
she put the tray on the floor outside while she unlocked the door. then she knocked at it, and a voice inside said, “come in.”
she opened the door a little, took up the tea-tray from the floor, and then pushed the door open with her elbow and went in.
the room was much like the one downstairs, and was quite as comfortably furnished, but was without the pot-plants which made theirs so bright and gay. so that it did look rather bare, and not altogether unlike a prison, in spite of the large window, which showed a magnificent view of the country. but perhaps what gave it the air of being a prison was not that, but the sad figure of the lady doll that was sitting in a chair by the window.
peggy knew that it must be the queen, directly she saw her. indeed, it was surprising that neither mr. nor mrs. emma had guessed who the prisoner on the top story really was.
for she looked very royal. she was most delicately[pg 145] made of wax, and looked a little faded, which would have been accounted for by her great age. but she was beautiful, too, with young features; for, of course, dolls do not grow old like human beings, and when they are in toyland even breakages do not count.
she wore a dress of rich brocade embroidered with seed pearls, rather like those that you see in pictures of queen elizabeth. it was quite possible that she might have been born about the same time as queen elizabeth, which would have made her very interesting, if she had had a good memory, and could have talked about all the changes she had seen. but dolls’ memories are short, and peggy did not find out how old the queen really was, and, indeed, it would not have been good manners to ask.
when peggy came in with the tea-tray, the queen looked surprised, and said, in a sad but gentle voice, “who are you? have you come to take me home? why am i kept locked up here?”
peggy put the tray down on the table, and said, “i am peggy, your majesty. wooden brought me to toyland. you said that she might.”
“why do you call me your majesty?” asked the queen. “they said that if anybody called me that,[pg 146] or i told anybody who i was, i should be locked up in a dungeon where i could not see the light.”
peggy felt desperately sorry for her. she had called her “your majesty” quite naturally, for she was very royal, both in appearance and manner, although she was only a doll. it seemed quite dreadful that she should be locked up there, and be threatened with still worse imprisonment, and for no fault of her own at all.
“i know that you are the queen,” peggy said, “and i hope that you will soon be back in your beautiful palace again. they are making plans outside to rescue you.”
“i can’t understand it,” said the poor queen, passing her hand wearily over her brow. “i have always been as nice as i could to everybody. and yet they told me that the people hate me, because i am wax, and don’t want me to be their queen any longer.”
“that isn’t true,” said peggy. “that wicked selim has told everybody that you are dead, and that you said that he was to be king after you.”
“oh, i never said that,” said the queen indignantly. “how can he have said such a thing? i never said anything like it.”
“that is what he has given out,” said peggy. “it[pg 147] was rose who made it up. she is as wicked as he is.”
the queen thought for a little time, looking out of the window at the beautiful view of her own kingdom. then she looked at peggy searchingly and said, “isn’t it true that my people hate me because i am wax, and want to have a wooden king and queen in my place? rose told me that selim was going to marry wooden, who brought you here. i was very sorry to hear that, because i have always liked wooden, and i didn’t think she would want to take my place.”
“oh, she doesn’t,” said peggy, speaking as indignantly as the queen had done. “nobody will be more pleased to hear that you are really alive. and she doesn’t want to marry selim. she hates him. why, he has actually sent her to prison, because she said she didn’t want to marry him.”
the queen looked out of the window and did not speak for some time. then she said, “i was kind to selim. when he was brought to me after he had been wrecked, and had lost everything that he had, i gave him apartments in my own royal palace, and money every month from my treasury.”
“he is bad and wicked,” said peggy. “and rose is bad, too. she used to be mine once, and i never liked her. now i know why.”
[pg 148]
“i didn’t like her either,” said the queen. “she wanted to be my lady-in-waiting. she said that i ought to have one composition at least, and not all waxes round me. but i said no. perhaps i would have a wood, so as to please the woods. i chose wooden herself, and i was going to appoint her when i fell ill. you are sure that it is not true that the woods hate me?”
peggy assured her again that it was not true, and she seemed much relieved. “i will not say anything about selim and rose,” she said, in a stately kind of way that was more effective than if she had said how wicked she thought they were. “when i get back my throne, and put on my crown again, i shall know what to do. my people have always been good, and i will not have them taught to tell untruths and to deceive.” she smiled gently at peggy. “why, what would you think of us over there?” she asked, “if you could not trust us?”
this made peggy see how trustworthy dolls really were. if they are ever naughty, it is only because their mistresses like to make them pretend to be, just for fun. and they are never really naughty, and soon get over whatever little trouble there may be with them, and are good and obedient again. peggy wondered[pg 149] now whether all this might not be owing to the wise and temperate rule of queen rosebud. perhaps if selim were to go on ruling it might all be altered, and dolls might become as bad as some human beings.
“i am sure when the people know you are alive,” she said, “they will very soon take you back to your palace. and they will be most awfully glad to have you reigning over them again.”
“well, you must tell them,” said the queen. “i can wait here a little longer in patience, now that i know things are to be put right. and i am very pleased to see you here, my dear; but i wish you had come at a happier time.”
peggy had never before conversed with a queen, or indeed with any royal person, though she had once seen her own king and queen driving through london; but she knew somehow that she was being dismissed from the presence. she kissed the doll-queen’s hand, which she had read somewhere was the proper way to behave, and went out of the room, leaving queen rosebud sitting by the window.
as she went down the five hundred steps, she thought it was rather extraordinary that the queen had not said anything about the way in which she was to be rescued. she had seemed to take it for granted that[pg 150] when her people knew what had happened, everything would come right for her. she could leave the details to them.
this seemed to peggy rather royal, too, and also that she had not grumbled at all about her imprisonment. though she was only a doll, peggy had gained a great respect for queen rosebud.
