He went and fetched his wife
She said that the two carriages had stopped at the inn, and a lady in the first one had put her head out and asked for a glass of water. The blinds of the carriage were drawn down, but when the innkeeper’s wife had brought the glass of water she had seen the lady who asked for it give it to another lady inside the carriage. She thought that this second lady had tried to say something to her, but the first lady had put her hand over her mouth and stopped her, and then somebody else in a corner of the carriage—she thought it was a man by the size of his hand—had passed the glass out to her, with a piece of money, and the window had been pushed up at once and the carriages had driven off.
She was rather confused about it all, as it had passed so quickly; but it seemed plain that Queen Rosebud had thought of this way of making it known that she was being carried off. She must have said that she didn’t feel very well, and would like a glass of water at the next house they stopped at, meaning to tell whoever brought it who she was. But Rose had prevented her. This was one more thing against Rose.
That was not all the innkeeper’s wife told them. As the carriage drove off, a wooden lady had put her head out of the second one and called out, “Here we go round the mulberry bush!” The innkeeper’s wife had thought afterwards that perhaps these were some lunatics—for there are a few lunatics amongst dolls—being taken out for an airing. But, of course, it had only been Wooden’s aunt acting in her usual silly fashion.
But the odd thing was that the innkeeper’s wife had seen nothing of Teddy. She said she must have seen him if he had passed along the road, as she had been in her kitchen, which was in front of the house, all the time. So as they went on they had something to wonder about, as to what had become of Teddy. Wooden thought he had missed the way, but this seemed impossible, as the road ran straight towards the sea. The Lord Chancellor thought that he might have tumbled off his horse, but this seemed more unlikely still, as he was clever enough to jump about on it and ride backwards. What Peggy thought she kept to herself. It was that Teddy had some clever plan in his head, which they would hear about all in good time, and had never meant to catch up the carriages all by himself. For of course he could easily have done so if he had liked, as he could go much faster than they could.
They went up the road over the hills, which you remember that the river had come through in a gorge, and when they came to the top of it they could see the sea a few miles away. The road ran straight down to it. They could see several specks on the road at a good distance off, but there was nothing that looked like the two carriages.
This was a disappointment, as they had quite expected to catch sight of the fugitives from the top of the hill, and to come up with them before they could reach the sea. If they had already got there, it seemed as if they must have escaped them after all.
But it seemed impossible that the carriages should have got so far ahead. They had not been more than half an hour behind them at the inn, and even if they had not gained on them since, they must have seen them on the road in front, if they had been there. So they must have left the straight road, and the question was what to do next.
As they were talking it over, Peggy thought she heard a cry in the wood on their right. She listened with all her ears, and then thought she heard another. She told Wooden, and all of them listened.