“Welcome, your Majesty,” he said, “to the Capital of your kingdom of Toyland. I will explain why I thus address you later.”
Wooden was quite taken back, and could only stammer out, “But Mr.—Mr.—I don’t know your name, but——”
“My name is Norval,” said the old gentleman doll. “And I am the Lord Chancellor of your Majesty’s kingdom.”
“But why do you call me your Majesty, Mr. Norval?” asked Wooden.
“Lord Norval, at your Majesty’s pleasure,” corrected the Lord Chancellor. “I address you as a Queen because King Selim, successor to our late lamented Queen Rosebud, has intimated his intention of marrying you, and in these matters I feel that one cannot begin too soon. Besides, it is his Majesty’s pleasure that you should be paid every possible honour, as his highly respected bride to be.”
“But Lord Noodle!” stammered Wooden, getting his name a little wrong in her perplexity, “this gentleman said that it was my aunt here that the king wanted to marry.”
She indicated the Dutch doll, and the Lord Chancellor looked at him in anger. “Did you say that?” he asked.
Wooden’s aunt broke in before the Dutch doll could speak. “Yes, he did say it,” she said. “And I ain’t going to give up my Selim for nobody. Him and me has always been friendly like, and I wasn’t a bit surprised to hear he wanted to marry me. Why should he want to marry a young thing like Wooden, I should like to know? Why she’s like a kid beside of him! It’s me that’s going to be Queen, not her.”
“Captain Cook,” said the Lord Chancellor to a lead soldier of his party, “arrest this Dutchman for telling a lie, and arrest this woman for telling another.”
“What, me!” cried Wooden’s aunt. “How dare you accuse me of telling a lie, you old creature with a head like an egg? How dare you? What lie have I told?”