“But it did me no good,” went on the queen, sadly; “for when I made a wish the cloak could not grant it.”
“Because it was stolen!” cried the girl, eagerly. “The fairy who gave it to me said that if the cloak was stolen it would never grant a wish to the thief.”
“Oh,” said Zixi, astonished, “I did not know that.”
“Of course not,” Fluff replied, with a rather triumphant smile. “But if you had only come to me and told me frankly that you wanted to use the cloak, I would gladly have lent it to you, and then you could have had your wish.”
“Well, well!” said Zixi, much provoked with herself. “To think I have been so wicked all for nothing, when I might have succeeded without the least trouble had I frankly asked for what I wanted!”
“But—see here!” said Bud, beginning to understand the tangle of events; “I must have worn the imitation cloak when I made my wish, and that was the reason that my wish didn’t come true.”
“To be sure,” rejoined Fluff. “And so it is nothing but the imitation cloak we have brought here.”
“No wonder it would not destroy and bury the Roly-Rogues!” declared the boy, sulkily. “But if this is the imitation, where, then, is the real magic cloak?”
“Why, I believe I left it in the lilac-grove,” replied Zixi.
“Then we must find it at once,” said Bud; “for only by its aid can we get rid of those Roly-Rogues.”