The poor fellow got up and rubbed his head.
“One gets very hard blows sometimes in the search for Truth,” he said ruefully.
“You shouldn’t be in such a hurry,” remarked Jack-in-the-box. “Take things more calmly, and ask the Policeman. Kindly shut up the lid of my box. I can’t very well manage it myself, I’m so springy. Close it firmly, please, or I shall be jumping out again, and I don’t want to do that. I wish to stay indoors to-day as much as possible, for I have a heavy cold in my head and am sneezing every two minutes.”
“That didn’t do much good,” said the Grocer when he had done as he was asked, and closed the lid of Jack’s box.
“Let us find the Policeman,” she said, holding out her hand.
“An excellent idea,” he replied as he took it. “There he is, just outside that dolls’ house.
“Constable,” he said, “can you direct us to the Well with Truth at the bottom?”
“First to the right, second to the left, and keep on till you come to it,” the policeman answered, without removing his eyes from the kitchen window.
“Not that I ever heard tell of any such Well,” he added, putting his head inside and speaking to the Little China Doll within.
“Then you’re a deceiver,” she said severely, as she handed him a joint of beef tightly gummed on to a wooden platter.