CHAPTER VII
THE MAGIC BRACELETS
"How nice it is to be one's very own self again!" observed Dulcie contentedly. "I don't think I told you, Cyril, that a star-fish stared so rudely at me and said something about 'a Winking, Blinking, silly Periwinkle,' which upset me very much at the time, but now it does seem absurd," and she laughed. Then she told of her escape from the net, and Cyril got very excited at her imprisonment within it, remarking it was a jolly good thing her last catseye had proved all right or she would have remained a Periwinkle for ever.
"Oh, Cyril!" she exclaimed, catching her breath, "I never thought of that—was it my last? That idea never came to me in the net; I never thought at the time to see how many were left. Why! Wherever is my bracelet!"
"I say! Where's mine?" cried Cyril.
The Magic Bracelets were gone.
The children looked at one another, aghast.
"I remember now," she exclaimed in awe-struck tones, "wishing to be a crab so as to keep you company, and know the mystery, and I was too miserable to think about the real Wishes—and never noticed or thought about not having changed—and oh! if I had happened to have one catseye only, I should have changed into a horrid crab and remained one for really ever and ever!"
"Oh, bother. What's the good of going on like that, Sis?" said her brother impatiently, for her voice verged very near a whimper. "Much better smile and thank your stars you're only a girl. Now what shall we do? You suggest something, Dulcie."
"Go home," was her prompt reply, wistfully and not without anxiety.