_Back to the World_
"George, darling!" George rubbed his eyes. Ah, it was the beautiful Queen
kissing him again.
"George!" Ah, it was the witch this time. He knew _her_ voice well enough.
She must have come back again. It felt like a dream, but there were dreams
within dreams, and he didn't really know which was the true dream. He must
be back in his little house again ... but hadn't the fairies brought him
home? The fairies? Then had he been dreaming about these adventures, and,
if so, where was he now? There were really fairies, anyway; he was quite
sure about that!
And so he went on thinking and thinking, although the voice, such a sweet
voice, kept repeating "George, darling!"
What was that? Alexander's bark! "_Wuff! Wuff!_" That was all right.
Alexander would explain everything.
"_Wuff! Wuff!_" right in his ear. He sat up with a start.
Why, he was in bed in his own room! There was Alexander sitting with his
head a little on one side looking at him, and thump-thumping with his tail
on the bed-clothes.
And there were the beautiful Queen and the witch ... no, it wasn't ... it
was Mother bending over him and saying "George, darling!" and there was
Nurse sitting knitting. How odd!
"You _have_ been sound asleep, dear. It was Alexander who woke you up at
last," said Mother. Nurse said nothing, but she smiled such a peculiar
smile. Where had George seen that smile before? Could Nurse be a witch?
His head was so full of all his wonderful adventures that he wanted to
begin to tell them all about it at once. But Mother said "No!" and Nurse
said "No!" and Alexander said nothing, but just lay on the bed and smiled
all the time.
Oh, it _was_ annoying! Every time he began his story Mother said: "George,
dear, you mustn't get so excited," and Nurse said: "Time for your
medicine!"
* * * * *
The doctor arrived in his little motor, _puff-puffing_ away as hard as
ever.
"Well, how are we to-day?" he said. "Feeling a little better, eh?"
"I'm all right," answered George. "I want to get up and go out with
Alexander!"
"H'm! You weren't so well after you had been out yesterday, you know. You
should take care of yourself." And the doctor bent over him, felt his
pulse, looked at his tongue, and did all the tiresome things doctors do
when we aren't well.
"He really seems much better. In fact, you can let him go for a walk so
long as he doesn't overheat himself," George heard him say to Mother.
"Doctor!" called George, just as the doctor was getting ready to go.
"Doctor, come here!" And as the doctor came up to the bedside he whispered
in his ear: "I've been there!"
"Been there?" The doctor was puzzled.
"Yes. You remember my asking you if there was a real Fairyland, and you
said that if I really wanted to find the way there I must wish as hard as
ever I could. Well, I've been there, and oh, I've had _such_ adventures!"
The doctor smiled. "How many miles to Babylon?" he asked.
Now _who_ had said that to George before? Why, it was Sir Tristram! Wasn't
it queer that the doctor should say it too?
"Lucky boy!" said the doctor, taking up his hat again. "Lucky boy! We
grown-ups have no luck at all. I lose my way every time I try to get
there."
"What a pity!" cried George. "I'm sure your house is ready waiting there
for you."
"Well, well," replied the doctor. "See that it's kept well aired for me
when you're there next time, won't you? I _might_ manage to get there some
time, if only by accident."
* * * * *
It took George days and days to tell his story properly. Mother was never
tired of hearing it, and asked heaps and heaps of questions; Father said
the mere thought of a real live dragon, and especially a wicked magician,
made him shiver and shake. He really did shake all over, but perhaps he
was only pretending.
Nurse nodded her head very wisely, but though George asked her if she had
ever seen a witch, no, she wouldn't answer anything but: "Perhaps I have;
perhaps I haven't."
Uncle William was delighted to hear that Alexander could talk, and used to
read him bits out of the newspaper and ask him what he thought about the
weather, and all kinds of nonsense. He loved the part about Tom Tiddler,
and really could imitate his voice so well that George sometimes couldn't
tell the difference.
* * * * *
George often talked to Mother about his little house in the wood. One day
when they were sitting in the garden he said to her: "You have a house
there too, haven't you?"
"Yes, I have a little house," replied Mother. "I have been back to it
quite lately. I sometimes forget about it for a time, but I always like to
go back to it when I am feeling a little tired or cross. It is so nice to
rest there."
"Has Father got a house there?"
"Yes. I once had a tiny peep at it. It was _so_ untidy, just as he likes
things to be. Papers and books all over the floor; clothes all unfolded,
and a smell of tobacco in every room. He called it a 'heavenly little
house.'" And Mother laughed merrily at the thought.
"Did you really _see_ it?"
"Yes, but it was only a peep, you know. He has seen the inside of mine
once, and he said he thought he would have to sleep outside in the garden
if he ever came to pay me a visit. The house was far too neat and tidy for
a big clumsy man."
"Did you ever see the fairies?"
"Long, long ago. You see, once you have been back to your little house
they know that you belong to the 'right people,' and only pay you a visit
on very special days."
"Oh, then shall I go back to my little house again?" asked George.
"Of course you will, so long as you don't become too grown-up. If you
forget your house it will fall into ruins, and by and by you will never be
able to find it again."
"Ah, that's what Alexander said!" answered George.
* * * * *
There seemed to be no end to the things George was learning from his
adventures. One day he said to Nurse: "The dragon's fortune--the little
dragon, I mean--lay right under his nose, didn't it?"
"Yes," replied Nurse, "right under his nose."
"Is mine under _my_ nose?"
"Yes, if you look for it. It's been there all the time." Nurse smiled more
like a witch than ever.
George had a long talk with Alexander about this. Although Alexander only
_seemed_ to _wuff-wuff_, George was quite certain that he could understand
him now.
"I believe," said George, with his hands deep in his pockets--_big_
pockets he had specially asked for--"I believe Mother's a piece of my
fortune, quite a large piece. Father's another and"--here he hugged
Alexander--"you're another! Of course, I mustn't forget Nurse," he added.
Mother was very pleased when she heard this, and one day after tea she
showed George something she had found in his room on the day he came
back from the Once-upon-a-Time Land. They were leaves--golden-brown
leaves--from Tom Tiddler's sack! George had almost forgotten about them.
"I have been keeping these safe for you," she said. "You must not lose
them. It would never do to throw away your fortune."
"No; I would like to have them always, so that I shall never forget. Now
that I know where my fortune is I don't want to go searching for it again,
though I _did_ enjoy myself."
Mother took a piece of paper out of the pocket of her apron. "You remember
that each of the guests at your party gave you a present. What were they?
Do you know still, or have you forgotten?"
George thought for some time. "I can half guess, you know, but I'm not
sure."
"Well, they gave you each a gift which you could not buy for gold or
jewels. Think of what you would like to be?"
"I should like to be happy," said George at once.
"That's one!"
"Oh, and healthy too. It's horrid to be ill, and I should like to be brave
like Sir Tristram and ... oh, I know, full of fun and laughter like the
dragon."
"Yes; there are still some more."
"Well, wise like the witch or like Tom Tiddler. Oh"--here he clapped his
hands--"unselfish like Alexander! He's always ready to forgive me, even if
I hurt him."
Alexander, who was lying at his feet, looked up and wagged his tail.
"And what did the beautiful Queen give you? Her present was the best of
all!"
"The best of all?" How sweet she had looked, the dear Queen, almost--no,
just the same as Mother!
"Have you guessed, dear?" said Mother, bending down and kissing George.
In a moment he knew. "Of course, how stupid of me! It's the last and the
best!" And he hugged her and Alexander in turns.
[Illustration]
THE FAIRY MUSIC
[Illustration: [Music]]
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