Now David was the sort of boy who often wanted to do something, chiefly because he was told not to, in order to see what happened, and this doormat made him quite determined to go in. It was no use trying the left-hand side of the door, partly because neither bottles nor followers nor anything was admitted, and partly because you had to ring also, and there wasn’t any bell. But there seemed just a chance of getting in by the right-hand part of the door, and he went up to it and knocked. To his great surprise he heard a bell ring inside as soon as he had knocked, which seemed to explain ‘ring also.’ The bell did not sound like an electric bell, but was like the servants’ dinner bell. As soon as it had stopped, he heard a voice inside the door say very angrily:
‘Give me my tuffet at once.’
There was a pause, and David heard the noise of some furniture being moved, and the door flew open.
‘What’s your name?’ said the butler. ‘And have you got a calling-card?’
David gave him one of his cards, and he looked at it and turned it upside down.
‘It’s one of them dratted upside-downers,’ he said, ‘and it sends the blood to the head something awful.’
He gave a heavy sigh, and bent down and stood on his head.
‘Now I can read it,’ he said. ‘Are you David or Blaize? If David, where’s Blaize, and if Blaize, where’s David?’
‘I’m both,’ said David.
‘You can’t be both of them,’ said the butler. ‘And I expect you’re neither of them. And why didn’t you go away?’