“What’s that?” the Fairies all asked breathlessly.
“Oh,” laughed Margaret, “it’s a big room with bars and ladders and horses and rings in it. All kinds of things to do stunts on.”
She could see her little friends were still not understanding very well what she was talking about.
“I’ll show you some of the things we do and you will see why I wear easy clothes like bloomers and middy blouses,” she said and went through some simple exercises of bending, twisting, and stepping.
“Oh! how funny!” cried the Fairies.
“Hush!” commanded the King frowning at them. “Very interesting, My Lady,” he said turning politely to Margaret, “and what is there about the blouse to be finished?”
“It’s all done but the eyelets for the lacings,” she said.
“Oh! they’re easy and fun,” he told her. “You’ll need a stiletto to punch the holes. Then you overcast the edges of the hole so the lacings can go in and out easily.”
“Where shall I get a stiletto and what is it?” Margaret asked Sir Bodkin. She thought he was a very funny little man to be always asking for the queerest things.
“Your Mother must have one in her work-basket or her sewing-table or her embroidery-bag, I’m thinking,” he replied.