"Where are we going?" said Marjorie, a little timidly; "and isn't this Christmas-land?"
"WE ARE GOING RIGHT TO SANTA CLAUS'S CASTLE."
"Of course it is," answered the horse, "and we are going right to Santa Claus's castle."
By this time Marjorie saw that there appeared on all sides of the wood, a great many strange characters. It was five or six moments before she could place them, and then she remembered having seen them in various houses or toy-shops, and one or two looked as if they had come from her own play-room. They were all sorts of toys, mostly broken down and decrepit; but they moved about, talking and laughing with each other, and every one seemed to recognize Marjorie's horse as he skimmed past.
"Well," thought Marjorie, "if I hadn't seen it, I never should have believed it."
But her wonderment was not to end there, for the next minute the horse had ridden up to a heavy gate in a high wall, where with his mouth he clanged a great bell. Marjorie's heart stood still. Back flew the gate. Marjorie saw that it had been unbolted by a little dwarf, to whom the horse nodded in a friendly way.
"Are we late?" said the horse, drawing a long breath.
"Not very," said the dwarf. "But hurry in."
And in they went. For a moment Marjorie almost screamed with delight. Never had she seen anything so beautiful. She was in a garden which seemed to be hung with every possible flower that ever grew, lighted by every soft light; and yet it was winter-time. Around the garden wall the fir-trees from the forest reared their heads laden with snow, and above all shone the radiance of moon and stars.