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.
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.
