said nothing about it himself, but it was plain that he was pleased
at having it known to them. Peggy had thought it rather boastful of
him when he had said in Wooden’s drawing-room that nobody would do his
duty as a soldier better than he should, but it had turned out to be
quite true. Wooden said how pleased his wife would be to hear what he
had done, and his friend said that he would be made a Major for it, or
perhaps even a Colonel.
They got off their horses at the entrance to the fort, for the streets
were too narrow and steep to let them ride any more.
Dollfort was an old-fashioned though a very powerful fort. There were
houses and shops in the narrow streets, and as they went up through
them they saw the soldiers taking refreshment in the inns, which were
rather foreign-looking, and made Peggy think of the places she had seen
in France.
The two sides had already made friends again, and Leads and Woods were
eating and drinking at the same tables, and talking in an eager way
about the glorious fight they had had. That is the best of a toy army.
When one side wins, the other side bears no malice, and of course the
regiments that have fought each other today may very well be fighting
on the same side tomorrow.
The ambulance corps had already finished its work inside the fort, and
was on its way out to the soldiers still lying on the downs. All the
defenders of the fort who had fallen had been picked up again, and, to
judge by the merry noise they were making, were none the worse for the
experience.
Captain Louisa and his friend walked up through the streets with them,
and Peggy was interested to learn that the friend, whose name was
Lieutenant Napoleon, belonged to a regiment which had defended the
fort. He was very indignant at what he had heard about Selim. “Still,
it was a good thing we didn’t know what a rascal he was,” he said, “or
we shouldn’t have had this glorious scrap.”
That was the spirit of all the soldiers who had been fighting. They
often had sham battles, but this had been a real one, and they had
thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the knocking down of the houses
outside the fort. They would not have been allowed to knock them down
in a sham fight.
The exciting and interesting thing now was to find Selim and Rose, and
get to know where they had hidden the Queen and Lady Grace and Wooden’s
mother.
Lieutenant Napoleon told them that the two carriages had come driving
quickly into the fort, and the King had put his head out of the window
of the first and told the sentries to close the gates, and to send the
Commander of the fort to him at once at the Busby Arms, which was the
chief inn in the place. Then they had driven into the courtyard of the
inn, and the gates of that had been closed too.
[Illustration: The chief inn of the place]
The commander of the fort was General Wellington-Vera. He was an
uncle of Lieutenant Napoleon’s, and had taken his wife’s name upon
marriage, as is the custom in Toyland. General Wellington-Vera was a
brave and capable officer, and had hurried at once to the King, as
of course he thought him, to take his orders. These were that the
fort was to be stoutly defended to the last man and the last ounce of
powder, against a cowardly and treacherous attack that would shortly
be made upon the King’s life by the lead soldiers of Dolltown, who
had revolted. That was what Selim had told him, and of course he had
believed it.
Orders had quickly been given out that every man should be found at his
post. Then General Wellington-Vera had made up his mind that he would
not wait to be attacked, but would himself attack first; and Selim had
approved of this. The result had been as we have already seen, and we
need not go over the same ground again.
Lieutenant Napoleon was his uncle’s aide-de-camp, and had been by his
side during the greater part of the battle and the siege. He was now
free for a time, because the General, who was an old man, had been
somewhat exhausted by his exertions, and had gone home to lie down.
He said that his uncle had told him nothing about any ladies being
with Selim. He had talked to him in a room alone. In fact, Lieutenant
Napoleon was surprised to hear that there were any ladies there at all,
and still more surprised to hear that one of them was Queen Rosebud.
He had known by this time that she was alive, and that Selim was a
usurper, but not that he had tried to run away with her.
“We ought to find them at once,” he said. “I am in command here as long
as uncle is lying down, and I shall be pleased to put myself at your
disposal.”
They went first of all to the Busby Arms. The gate of the courtyard was
still shut, and Lieutenant Napoleon banged on it with the hilt of his
sword, and called out that if it was not opened at once he would give
orders for it to be blown up with gunpowder.
“You had all better take shelter,” he said, as he was waiting for a
reply. “They might try sniping at us. I don’t mind for myself, but I
shouldn’t like to see any of you hit.”
So they went behind a wall, all except Colonel Jim and the Colonel of
Lancers and Captain Louisa, who, being soldiers, scorned to shelter
themselves, and waited with Lieutenant Napoleon.
But there was no occasion for alarm. The gate was soon opened by the
innkeeper, who had been terrified by the bombardment of the fort,
especially as one of the cannon balls had fallen into the garden behind
the inn and broken a cucumber frame.
The innkeeper was as shocked as all the rest when he heard how wicked
Selim had really been, and very surprised at being told that one of the
ladies who had come in the carriage with him was Queen Rosebud.
“She must have been the one they said was ill,” he said. “Her head was
all covered up when they brought her in. They asked for a cup of tea
for her, so I went down into the kitchen myself, because, you see, the
girl what----”
“Never mind about all that,” said the Lord Chancellor. “Where are they
now? Take us to them at once.”
But alas! the innkeeper could only tell them that they had gone.
“The King,” he said--“well, I suppose I mustn’t call him that now--but
Selim, he went out with the General when the firing began, and soon
after he’d gone the ladies must have slipped off. That’s how I think
it must have happened. Anyhow, when I went up to tell them about my
cucumber frame they’d gone, and I haven’t set eyes on them since.”
They did not waste much more time at the inn. They set out to make
a thorough search of the houses in the fort, under the direction of
Lieutenant Napoleon, who now showed himself very zealous on the scent.
There were not, after all, a great many hiding places. It was only in
the lower streets of the fort that there were shops and houses. Above
that there were only barracks and defence works, and the citadel at
the top of all.
None of the soldiers whom Lieutenant Napoleon questioned had seen
anything of Selim since the taking of the fort. Up to that time he had
been with General Wellington-Vera, overlooking the defence, and many of
them had seen him. Of the Queen, and the other lady dolls, nobody had
seen anything, from first to last.
“The only thing left is to search the citadel,” said Lieutenant
Napoleon. “I don’t suppose they are there, but I don’t see where else
they can be.”
So they set out, and climbed the steep streets up to the top of the
fort.
As they went up, they met a lot of female dolls coming down with pails
and mops and brooms. These were the char-dolls who had been cleaning up
the citadel, and it speaks well for their sense of duty that they had
not left off their work during the bombardment. But they were all wives
of soldiers, and had been trained to do their duty, whate’er befell.
Peggy was interested in these dolls, who were chattering away at a
great rate, and anxious to know what had been happening while they were
busy. But, being wives of soldiers, they were too well disciplined to
ask questions of the officers, and nobody took much notice of them
except Peggy.
[Illustration]
They were mostly dressed in print gowns, but some of them wore big
cloaks, because the evening was beginning to get a trifle chilly. Peggy
noticed in the crowd of them two who had the hoods of their cloaks
right over their heads. One of them was very tall, but was bent, as if
she had rheumatism. She had the arm of the other one, who was carrying
a pail, and they were talking with their heads close together, but not
speaking to anybody else.
They had just passed, rather quickly, when an idea suddenly sprang into
Peggy’s mind. She clutched at Wooden’s arm, and said, “Look at those
two! I believe they are disguised.”
It was the remembrance of Colonel Jim’s cloak when he had got in to
them in the House of Cards that had made the idea come into her head.
And perhaps the same connection of ideas made Colonel Jim himself
sharper than he generally was; for the moment Peggy had spoken he
called out to the char-dolls to stop.
Most of them, being well disciplined, stopped at once, at the word
of command, but the two in cloaks went on, as if they had not heard,
slightly quickening their pace, but not running.
That was enough for Teddy. He sprang after them. “Here, you two!” he
said. “Let’s have a look at your faces. I’m sure you’ve no reason to be
ashamed of them.”
They began to run. But Teddy ran after them, and put his foot in front
of the tall one, who tripped and fell sprawling in the road. Teddy tore
off the cloak, and disclosed, not an inoffensive char-doll like the
rest, but the gross form and sinister features of the rascally Selim.
[Illustration]
XX
THE LAST
There lay the villain who had worked such mischief among the simple and
generous inhabitants of Toyland, and, above all, to their noble Queen,
who had loaded him with benefits. He lay on the muddy road, blinking
and scowling at his captors, well knowing that his game was up and his
doom would soon fall. He was a sorry spectacle, in his discovery and
disgrace. It was checkmate for him finally, and no further move was
left to him.
As for the chief partner in his crimes, who had tried to escape with
him--the renegade Composition doll Rose, who had so completely failed
to obey the natural instincts of upright dollhood--it was easy enough
to recognize her in the other cloaked figure, when once Selim’s
disguise had been torn from him. It was Wooden’s aunt who sprang
forward and snatched the cloak away from Rose. “So here you are, my
beauty!” she exclaimed exultantly. “Got you at last! And if you try to
get away I’ll scratch your eyes out.”
But Rose made no effort to get away. She did not cower before them, as
the wretched Selim did. He made no effort even to rise from the ground
until Lieutenant Napoleon called up two soldiers to seize him and hold
him fast. But Rose drew herself up to her full height, and flashed
scorn upon her captors from her dark eyes. There was something grand
in her, in spite of the wickedness of her behaviour, but it was not
the sort of grandeur that it does anybody any good to admire. The only
thing that can be said about her is that with such a bold character
it is a pity that she had not used her powers to do right instead of
wrong. Then they might have led her to great heights. As it was, they
had brought her down to ruin.
They questioned her as to what had been done with the Queen and the
other dolls who had been carried off; but she would answer them
nothing. Her contemptuous look seemed to say, “You may do what you like
with me, and I shall only go on despising you. But you will get nothing
out of me, so it is waste of time to try.”
The wretched Selim, however, was more amenable to pressure. “If you
will let me free to go away,” he whined, “I will tell you everything.”
“Give him a twist of the arm,” said Lieutenant Napoleon, “and see if
that will make him tell us. He isn’t going to be let free.”
One of the soldiers screwed Selim’s arm, not very hard, because it
wasn’t necessary. Directly he felt the slightest pain, Selim gave way
at once. “Oh, don’t hurt me!” he cried out--the wretched, cowardly
creature! “They are in the citadel--quite safe and comfortable. I might
have executed them all, but I haven’t touched a hair of their heads.”
“Bring the prisoners along with us,” said Lieutenant Napoleon. “We will
go up to the citadel at once.”
They mounted to the top of the fort. The citadel was a great barrack
of a place, with one fine hall, and a regular hive of smaller rooms,
besides the fortified works. If it could have been used for a final
defence of Dollfort there would have been room in it for lots of
soldiers, and everything would have been there to enable the defenders
to support a long siege. But it had all been cleared out. The courtyard
inside the gates was encumbered with furniture, and even the guns had
dust-sheets over them. The great hall and the lower rooms had all been
thoroughly cleaned, but the char-dolls had not reached the upper rooms
yet, and it was to one of these that Selim, who was now eager to tell
everything, led them.
He had locked the door, and thrown away the key out the window, as he
was obliged to confess, but it did not take long to break it open.
Colonel Jim, who was the biggest and strongest of them all, and who
was very anxious to rescue Lady Grace as quickly as possible, put his
shoulder to the door and gave one mighty push, and it flew open.
The room was very small. It had a narrow, barred window, and the only
furniture in it was a low bed and a wooden chair. It was, in fact, a
prison cell, used for locking up soldiers who had committed offences.
And this was the place in which Selim had locked up the unfortunate
Queen, and the other two dolls, without any food or even water.
Supposing he had escaped, as he had hoped to do! They would have stayed
there all night, and could only have been released if they had managed
to attract the attention of the char-dolls who would come to the
citadel the next morning.
Colonel Jim was not very quick at understanding things, as we have
seen, but he understood this directly his eyes took in what was inside
the door he had burst open. He turned round and gave Selim a violent
buffet on the side of his face, which made the miserable creature cower
away and cry out. He had still to be punished for his crimes, but this
first instalment of his punishment made everybody feel better.
Queen Rosebud was sitting on the chair with her hands on her lap,
the picture of stately patience; Lady Grace and Wooden’s mother were
sitting on the bed, and it was evident that Lady Grace had been crying.
The Queen rose slowly from her chair. “I wish to be taken away from
this place,” she said.
She was very royal, even under the dreadful circumstances in which she
found herself, and after all she had gone through. The Lord Chancellor
advanced towards her and bowed very low. “If your Majesty will deign to
lead your loyal subjects to the great hall,” he said, “justice can be
done at once on these malefactors, and in the meantime preparations can
be made for your Majesty’s convenience for the night. It will be too
late to go back to your Majesty’s Capital until tomorrow.”
The Queen simply said, “Come, Lady Grace,” and walked out of the
cell. The wretched Selim tried to draw her attention to himself with
a whining prayer for mercy, as she passed him. But she took not the
smallest notice. She did, however, make a slight inclination of the
head towards Peggy, as she passed her; and Peggy felt proud and
honoured, just as if it had been a real Queen who had taken notice of
her. But it cannot be too often repeated that Queen Rosebud was _like_
a real Queen, in all her ways and in all her deeds.
They went into the great hall, and a seat was brought for the Queen at
the top of it. All the rest of them stood. Selim, between two soldiers,
and Rose, between two others, were brought up before her.
The Lord Chancellor cleared his throat, as if it lay with him to open
the proceedings, but he was a very different Lord Chancellor before
Queen Rosebud from what he had been in the Hall of Audience before
the usurping Selim. When the Queen held up her hand he stopped his
preparations for speech at once, and listened respectfully to what she
had to say.
She spoke slowly, in a low musical voice, and every word she said could
be heard plainly by everybody in the great hall.
“King Selim is to be taken at once to the coast,” she said, “and put
into a boat, with oars and a sail, and enough food for several days. He
is to row or sail away from my kingdom, and never to come back here. If
he does so, he is to be executed. Take him away.”
That was all, and she waited for her commands to be carried out before
speaking again. She had given the miserable creature his title. He was
a King, though not King of Toyland. He had been cast on the shores of
her island destitute and solitary, and had been right royally treated.
And he had repaid her as we have seen. But she made no accusation
against him. He was simply to be sent away.
The wretched being was led off by the two soldiers who had guarded him.
He went without a word. He knew that his life had been most mercifully
spared, for he could row or sail to land in a few hours, or be picked
up by a ship. Let us hope that he felt some compunction for his many
crimes. He passed out of the hall between the two guards, the great
door clanged after him, and he was seen no more.
The Queen’s face changed as she turned towards Rose. Selim was a
foreigner, and in getting rid of him she had done all that she needed
to do. But Rose was her own subject, and must be dealt with in a
different fashion.
“As for you,” she said, “you must stand your trial according to the
laws of the land. If you choose to stand it now, with me for your
judge, you may do so. Say whatever you please in your own defence, and
I will listen to you. If not, I wash my hands of you, and you will be
sent to prison to await your trial by jury.”
It was an extraordinary act of clemency for the Queen to deal with
Rose’s case herself, and no doubt Rose knew that she would get more
merciful treatment than if her crimes were left to the judgment of a
jury of dolls, who could not help being furious with her for what she
had done.
But all she said, in a voice of scorn, was, “Oh, try me now, and finish
it. I have done what I have done, and I wish I had succeeded. As I’ve
failed, do what you like with me.”
The Queen looked at her with her calm, steady gaze, and Rose’s eyes
dropped before it. “I am more sorry for you than you are for yourself,”
the Queen said. “I know that you have been led away by spite and
jealousy, and those are feelings that cause great unhappiness to
whoever possesses them. It is your misfortune that you have those bad
qualities, but it is in your power to conquer them. It is my hope that
you will succeed in doing so. Go! You are free.”
The guards on either side of Rose fell away from her. She stood staring
at the Queen with wide eyes, as if she could hardly believe what had
been said to her. Then she realized that she was free, to go where she
liked, and that she was not to be punished at all. She covered her face
with her hands and burst into tears, and then hurried away out of the
hall. Her proud and rebellious spirit would not have quailed before any
punishment that might have been meted out to her, but the punishment
would have left her no better than she had been before. But the free
pardon, which she could never have expected, had broken her down. It
was to be hoped that she would really repent of her bad ways now, and
be a better doll than she had ever been before.
When Rose had left the hall, the Queen’s face lightened. “All that is
left for me now,” she said, “is to thank such of my subjects as have
been so active and successful in setting me free from the plots that
have surrounded me. And first of all, I must thank the dear little
girl who is not my subject, but has come here on a visit to find us in
trouble that is now at an end. She must come again. That is the only
way in which I can reward her.”
She smiled graciously and sweetly at Peggy, who felt extraordinarily
pleased.
Then she turned to Wooden. “You have always had my respect and
liking,” she said, “and I had intended to have appointed you today to
a post of honour about my person. I do so now, under the title of
Lady-in-Waiting in Ordinary, and Extra Bed-doll of the Royal Chamber.
Your duties will bring you into constant relationship with me, and I
look forward with pleasure to making you my friend.”
[Illustration]
It was most graciously said, and Wooden was so overcome with pride and
pleasure that she could only stammer out her thanks, and promise to
perform her duties as well as ever she could.
The Queen then called for a sword. Colonel Jim handed her his, and to
his great surprise she knighted him with it, and then conferred the
same honour upon Teddy, who was even more surprised, as he was the
first bear in Toyland who had ever received it.
[Illustration: She conferred the same honour upon Teddy]
When she had done this, she rose from her seat, and intimated that she
wished to retire for the night, but before doing so she said a few
gracious words to all who were in the hall. She said with a smile to
Colonel Jim that she hoped soon to know him under the title of Sir Jim
Lady-Grace, which was a happy way of saying that she would forward a
marriage between him and her favourite lady-in-waiting. And she told
Teddy, who was so overcome with the honour that had been conferred on
him that his customary flightiness had departed for the moment, that
she thought he ought to get married too, and she should always be
pleased to welcome to her Court Sir Teddy and Lady Bear-Wooden’s-Aunt.
It may readily be guessed into what a flutter this suggestion put
Wooden’s aunt. While the Queen was talking to her, and hearing about
her having been tied up to the tree by Selim and Rose, she was quiet
and respectful. But directly the Queen’s back was turned, and Teddy
came up to her with a grin to see whether she liked the idea of
marrying him, she cut a caper, and Teddy cut another, so that Wooden’s
mother had to remind them both that they would belong for the future to
the Upper Ten Thousand, and must learn to behave themselves.
* * * * *
The shades of evening were beginning to close in as the Queen left the
hall, and suddenly Peggy began to feel as if she had had a very long
day, and would like to go to sleep in her own little bed at home, if
only she could get there. She began to wonder if it would be necessary
to go over again all the long journey between Toyland and her home, and
turned to ask Wooden how they were to get back.
* * * * *
But as she turned, the hall and all the dolls in it seemed to be fading
away, and as she opened her mouth to speak----
* * * * *
She awoke, to find herself lying in her own little white bed, with dear
Wooden in her arms, and Teddy with his impudent face lying on the
pillow, pointing one paw towards the open window, into which the happy
morning sun was shining.
[Illustration: FINIS]
Transcriber’s Note:
Minor errors and omissions in punctuation and spelling have been fixed,
otherwise the text has been left in original condition, except for the
below
Page 126: “to use pass-word” changed to “to use the pass-word”