I smell the blood of an Englishman!
Be he alive——’”
but she got no further, for with a scream of triumph the Dragon flung himself forward and seized her tree right up by the roots, and the nearest Ogre at the same moment plucked her out of it by his finger and thumb.
“Quick, Miss Peggy!” screamed Nurse, and Peggy did wish quick, ... and found herself back on the old muddy high road again, being dragged along it by Nurse. “For if you don’t hurry a bit more,” she went on, “you’ll catch your death of cold in those wet socks.”
Peggy burst into tears. Nurse was no longer a bit like a nice Fairy, and it was all such a dreadfully sudden change, and everything felt so very flat. Even the stone in her Ring looked small, and as dull as a pebble.
“Oh dear, oh dear!” she sobbed. “And we never got to the games at all! And I’ve still got one wish left that I never used. Now it will be wasted!” and the tears poured fast down her cheeks.
Nurse looked down at her in astonishment, for Peggy never cried.
“What’s come over you all of a sudden?” she asked.
“I wish you were always nice like just now,” sobbed Peggy, quite forgetting Nurse never remembered anything about the adventures. “We were having such a lovely time! And then you went and made me leave at the most exciting bit.”
“I don’t think it’s very exciting to stand in a muddy ditch!” said Nurse, but her voice had all at once become very soft and gentle. “But never mind, Miss Peggy dear. I’ll tell you the story of the Three Bears now if you like, then we shall soon get home. And perhaps there’ll be a letter from Mother; I shouldn’t wonder!”