Bedelia privately decided that she would herself find out before he did, or know the reason why. However, she intimated nothing of the kind, and as the Queen just then suggested that they make a tour of the Palace and grounds, the subject was dismissed for the time at least.
The Queen now threw her long train over her arm and settling her golden crown a little more firmly on her golden curls, she caught Sally’s hand and the two moved towards the door, followed by the King and Bedelia. The latter had, as a matter of course, taken the King’s arm, and now marched along with her nose in the air, greatly to the astonishment of the scandalized court ladies, very few of whom had enjoyed a like honor. His Royal Highness was too much amused and diverted to feel any embarrassment. Truth to tell, life in Toyland had been dull of late, the same thing happening every day without change or variation, and the King was beginning to be horribly bored. Bedelia had dropped from the sky, as it seemed, in the very nick of time.
The quartet proceeded through the crowd of respectfully bowing courtiers to the big doors at the lower end of the room and passed through them into the outer hall. The royal automobile was in waiting, and after a general tour of the Palace the party stepped into it and started for a ride through the charming country.
As they reached the edge of the town, they beheld the Walking House patiently awaiting developments and, both King and Queen desiring to look it over, the party descended at once and proceeded to examine it. The position of guide was, of course, snapped up by Bedelia, whose fluency of speech fitted her very well for such work.
The King inspected everything with the greatest interest, noting many improvements unknown in Toyland, Both King and Queen insisted on being introduced to all the dolls, and made themselves most delightfully agreeable.
The little bear now noticed for the first time the absence of Peter Pan, a fact which she had hitherto passed by, owing no doubt to the very good time she was enjoying. Squatting on her haunches in the kitchen while she devoured a big, red apple—for she considered that the claims of the inner man preceded even those of royalty—she revolved the matter in her mind, finally coming to the conclusion that there could be but one reason for Peter’s absence: that after their disappearance from the doll’s house, he had discovered some means of returning to his original size, and had availed himself of it, probably finding the society of the doll’s house uncongenial minus Sally and Bedelia, and preferring that of his cubs. Bedelia devoutly hoped that he had preserved a portion of the “restorer,” as she mentally styled it, for herself and Sally. Greatly as she was enjoying herself, she certainly had no intention of remaining as she was for the term of her natural life. Playing at being dolls was all very well for a season, but was scarcely satisfying enough for a perpetual diet. Besides, there was her family. She wondered how Tom and Jerry and Little Breeches were getting along without her. It was something of a consolation to feel that Peter Pan was with them in her absence.
Bedelia’s brain worked quickly, if it was made of silk ravelings! And she had firmly settled the whole matter in her own mind long before she had finished the red apple.
When she had taken the last bite and had carefully extracted the seeds, of which, squirrel-like, she was extremely fond, she dropped the core into the coal scuttle, wiped her paws and muzzle on Dinah’s best apron which happened to be freshly done up and airing before the fire, and betook herself upstairs to find out what had been going on in her absence. As she passed the basement door, she saw the Little Lamb scurrying out of it, but thought nothing of the incident and sped upstairs to the drawing-room from which issued the sounds of lively conversation.
The King and Queen had explored every nook and corner of the Walking House, and now expressed a most lively desire to see it walk, a request with which the House stubbornly refused to comply. Firmly planted upon its pedal extremities, which had to all intents and purposes turned themselves back into castors again, it stoutly resisted all coaxing and persuasion; and the project was finally abandoned, much to the disappointment of their Royal Highnesses and the chagrin of Sally.
The Queen declared it high time to be on the move, as they had brought along an elaborate luncheon which was to be served wherever they felt like stopping, and it was already along toward noon. Therefore they all climbed into the auto and presently rolled away, waving good-bye to the dolls, who were assembled in front of the house to see them go.