Belinda was a little wax doll who had a most charming way of opening and shutting her eyes. When Mortals were about, she could not do it unless they helped by pulling a wire. But when once the shop was closed, and the toys, left to themselves, could move at pleasure, then Belinda pulled her own wires and opened and shut her eyes as she pleased. She did this in so simple and unaffected a fashion that it delighted everyone to see her.
“What simplicity! what delightful simplicity!” said the other toys. “’Tis really charming!”
“Singularly simple,” repeated the Butcher, who always stood at the door of his shop, watching for the customers that so seldom came. “She is like an innocent lamb,” he added, his thoughts turning to his trade; “a simple, harmless lamb.”
“Elle est très gentille, la petite Belinde,” remarked Mademoiselle Cerise, the French doll just arrived from Paris. “Elle est une jeune fille fort bien élevée; elle ferme les yeux d’une façon vraiment ravissante.”
“Here we are again, Simplicity and Self!” said the Clown, turning a somersault and landing by Belinda’s side with a broad grin upon his face.
She made no reply, but instantly closed her eyes. She was not quite sure but that he was laughing at her, so she thought it more prudent not to see him.
“There! did you notice?” ... “Wasn’t it pretty and simple?” said all the Toys to one another as they looked at Belinda.