The Lord Chancellor’s face became softer. “It is quite true that I have a kind face,” he said. “Many people have remarked the same thing before now, and some of them have even gone so far as to say that for my age it is a handsome face. Of course that was only said in compliment, I know; I don’t wish to make too much of it; but it does show that there is something in my face that strikes people, and I don’t wonder that it has struck you. Well, now, about dismissing you from your post—if I could find a way out of it——!”
He looked at Peggy, as if he expected her to help him, but for the moment she couldn’t think of anything.
“Of course you have committed a serious fault,” he said to Mr. Emma, who had risen from his knees and was waiting to hear what was to be done to him, with a mournful expression on his face. “Prisoners are entrusted to you, and you are right in treating them as well as you can. But you have treated this young lady as if she weren’t a prisoner at all.”
“But I am not a prisoner,” said Peggy. “You have said yourself that I am not.”
The Lord Chancellor’s face lightened. “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” he said. “It makes all the difference. Mr. Emma, you have committed no fault whatever. In fact, by carrying out his Majesty’s wishes at the earliest possible moment, you have shown yourself a zealous servant of the Crown, and I shall have much pleasure in recommending you for a rise in wages.”
So that matter was settled in the most satisfactory fashion, and Peggy was pleased to see Mr. Emma cheer up and look proud of himself, as if he had done something particularly clever.
She and Wooden said good-bye to the others, who did not seem so disappointed at still being kept in prison as might have been expected. There are many advantages in being a doll, and one of them is that they have such a lot of time before them that they are a good deal more patient than we are when things are not going well for them. They know that the bad time will end, and are content to wait till it does. Peggy managed to whisper to Lady Grace that she would do all she could to set things right and get the Queen out of prison. Then, of course, she would come out, too, and be restored to her post as lady-in-waiting. Wooden’s aunt was still eating and drinking in great enjoyment, and Wooden’s mother, after kissing them farewell, said that she should have a little nap, and when she woke up perhaps she would be let out.
XII
PEGGY STAYS IN A REAL DOLLS’ HOUSE
Peggy had only stayed a very short time in prison, and had been so much interested in all that had happened there that she had hardly been able to think of herself in prison at all, but she was none the less pleased to be in the open street and free to go anywhere. They were going first of all to Wooden’s house, which was in the chief residential quarter of Dolltown, near the royal palace.