“And I think you ought to see to it, Lord Norval,” said Mrs. Jane. “According to Peggy, she has told a deliberate falsehood, and that is punishable by law, as I’ve always understood.”
They seemed to be in danger of forgetting all about Queen Rosebud in their disgust for Rose. But this brought them back to the subject.
“I quite agree with you,” said the Lord Chancellor. “It is a most disgraceful affair altogether. I shall inform his Majesty about it at once, and request him to see that Rose is properly punished. What I shall suggest is that she shall take Queen Rosebud’s place in prison. I fancy that would be rather neat, eh? I shall press the point on his Majesty.”
“But Selim is just as bad as she is,” exclaimed Peggy. “He ought to be sent to prison, too. Why do you call him ‘His Majesty’? He isn’t a King at all.”
“Hush, hush, my dear young lady!” said the Lord Chancellor, much shocked. “I know you are human, and to be excused on that account, but if one of us had said that, it would be punishable, you know. Selim is a King. He wears a crown. We have all seen it.”
“He is only a chess king,” said Peggy. “I meant that he isn’t King of Toyland. He can’t be, if Queen Rosebud is still alive.”
“That’s one way of looking at it, certainly,” said the Lord Chancellor, in a puzzled kind of way. “I shall have to think about it very carefully when I go home. He says he’s King of Toyland. I shall get at it better when I’ve slept over it.”
“But aren’t you going to do anything now?” asked Peggy. “There’s Queen Rosebud still locked up in the House of Cards. I think Captain Louisa ought to take his soldiers at once, and let her out.”
All the dolls had sat with puzzled faces, looking at Peggy and the Lord Chancellor. They had all been ready to talk a great deal, but when it came to doing something they seemed quite at a loss.
Captain Louisa started when his name was mentioned. “If it was my duty, I should do it,” he said. “I should do it very well—nobody better.”