Adventures in Toyland/VIII.



On the morrow, when the two met as usual, the Marionette said to the little girl:

"Good evening. I have thought of a story that will please you."

"Then I suppose it ends most happily, doesn't it?" asked Molly.

"Quite right," she replied. "I am going to tell you one that ends as happily as you could wish it to. You will, I am sure, be quite satisfied with the conclusion of:

Never was there a love affair more perplexing than the love affair of the Grocer and the Farthing Doll. It puzzled the whole toy-shop; it even puzzled the two lovers themselves.

The affair was rather difficult to understand, but I will try to explain it to you as simply as I can.

Everyone knew that the Grocer and the Farthing Doll loved each other; the Grocer knew he loved the Farthing Doll, but he did not know that she loved him; the Farthing Doll knew that she loved the Grocer, but she didn't know if he loved her.

So everything was at a stand-still, and none of the other dolls knew how to bring the matter to a happy end. No one quite liked to interfere. And for these reasons: The Grocer was very proud and would take no advice, whilst the Farthing Doll was so sensitive that a single wrong word might cause her a serious illness. Again, the Grocer wouldn't ask the Farthing Doll to marry him because, being a proud Toy, he feared the humiliation of her saying "No." She, on her part, would not say much to help him, lest it should look as if she were forward.

It was thus that matters stood, when, walking along the counter one day, the Farthing Doll met the Grocer sauntering by with a sad face.

"Well!" she exclaimed, with a start of surprise. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"My shop is close by," he answered. "Don't you remember?"

"To be sure," she said. "How odd of me to forget."

"I'm very pleased to see you," said the Grocer.

"I am glad of that, for I have every wish to please you," said the Farthing Doll.

"Is that satisfactory?" he asked.

"It ought to be," she replied.

"I don't know," the Grocer said. "You may wish to please, without loving. For instance, you may try to please a turkey by giving him the best of grain. But that is not because you love him. It is merely because you wish to fatten him well for your Christmas dinner."

"Good-morning!" said the Farthing Doll coldly.

"Stay!" the Grocer cried. "I have an idea. We appear to have some difficulty in finding out the Truth. Let us go and hunt for it."

"Where is it to be found?" she asked.

"At the bottom of a Well, so I've heard."

"Then I suppose the first thing is to find the Well." "Exactly so," he said. "Come, let us start." So they walked away hand in hand. They hunted all up and down the counter, and asked directions of many dolls. But never a Well could they find.

"See!" exclaimed the Farthing Doll at last; "here's a square thing that looks something like a Well. Go, open it and look down."

"What may be inside, though?" he said cautiously.

"Truth, Truth, you silly thing!" she said impatiently. "Go!"

So he went and opened the lid.

But it was not a Well at all. It was merely the abode of Jack-in-the-box, and when the Grocer looked in Jack jumped out. He jumped up so suddenly that he knocked the Grocer flat on his back.

The poor fellow got up and rubbed his head.

"One gets very hard blows sometimes in the search for Truth," he said ruefully.

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry," remarked Jack-in-the-box. "Take things more calmly, and ask the Policeman. Kindly shut up the lid of my box. I can't very well manage it myself, I'm so springy. Close it firmly, please, or I shall be jumping out again, and I don't want to do that. I wish to stay indoors to-day as much as possible, for I have a heavy cold in my head and am sneezing every two minutes."

"That didn't do much good," said the Grocer when he had done as he was asked, and closed the lid of Jack's box.

"Let us find the Policeman," she said, holding out her hand.

"An excellent idea," he replied as he took it. "There he is, just outside that dolls' house.

"Constable," he said, "can you direct us to the Well with Truth at the bottom?"

"First to the right, second to the left, and keep on till you come to it," the policeman answered, without removing his eyes from the kitchen window.

"Not that I ever heard tell of any such Well," he added, putting his head inside and speaking to the Little China Doll within.

"Then you're a deceiver," she said severely, as she handed him a joint of beef tightly gummed on to a wooden platter.

"You're sure to arrive at anything if you keep on till you get it," he answered carelessly. "So it doesn't really matter if you take the first to the right and the second to the left, or the second to the right and the first to the left. You are bound to get there in time.... This beef is gummed so tightly to the dish that it is a job to get it off...."

In the meantime the Grocer and the Farthing Doll were wandering about trying to find the Well. They sought for a long time, but they could not see a sign of it.

"We'll never find it," she said in despair. "And I am growing so tired I am beginning to lose all my good looks. All the crimson is wearing off my cheeks." "Come, come, my dear, we won't give up yet," he said. "Console yourself; I believe many others have been in the same plight before us."

"I don't mind if they have," she said, tired and impatient.

Now the Grocer was a man of quick intellect. His thoughts were not solely given to the selling of raisins, currants, flour, rice and other groceries. As the Farthing Doll spoke, a very clever idea came into his head.

"Wait!" he said thoughtfully. "Your last remark has given me a new idea. You mentioned the word mind! Mind,—mind,—mind. Yes,—now why should we not give up seeking for truth in a Well, and try to find it in our minds?"

"Have we got them?" she asked doubtfully.

"I think so," he replied.

"Then where are they kept?"

He pondered.

"In our heads, I imagine," he said.

And tapping his forehead to help out his thought he remarked.

"Let us begin. Here is my first question: Do you approve of marriages with Grocers?" "Before I answer," said the Farthing Doll cautiously, "I should like to hear if you approve of marriages with Farthing Dolls? Some people don't."

"Ladies first. It is your place to reply to me before I reply to you."

"I prefer the last word; you may have the first."

"It is all very well to expect me to answer you, but supposing I said 'Yes' and you said 'No,' fancy how my pride would suffer!"

"But supposing I said 'Yes' and you said 'No,' picture to yourself what my feelings would be. I should not recover from the blow."

"We have got ourselves into a difficult position," said the Grocer. "Let us start afresh. If I wrote you a letter, how would you answer it?"

"As I thought best," she said. "But tell me how would you write it?"

"As I thought fit," he replied. "What would your 'best' be?"

"That would depend on your 'fit'," she answered.

The Grocer sighed and knit his brows.

"It seems very difficult to come to an understanding with you," he said.

And then they were both silent for a long while. As a matter of fact, this was because they were both so depressed that they could think of nothing further to say.

The Farthing Doll was the first to break the silence.

"Perhaps," she said sadly, "we had better start looking for that Well again. The Policeman told us that if we kept on we should come to it."

"I am not sure that I trust the Policeman," he answered. "It struck me that he wished, unobserved, to enjoy some food from the dolls' house kitchen. He wanted to get rid of us."

"What is to be done then?" she asked.

The Grocer thought for a long while. Then he spoke again.

"I have another idea," he remarked. "Let us look for Truth not in the Well, nor in our Minds, but in our Hearts. Do you agree?" Yes, I do," she said. "But how shall we set about it?"

"Let our Hearts speak," he replied.

After this they were silent for a moment or two. Then the Grocer and the Farthing Doll clasped each other's hands and spoke at the same moment.

"My Heart's Dearest, I love you," said he. "You are my Best Beloved," said she.

So the matter ended happily, to their own joy and to the joy of the whole toy-shop.

And these two lovers found Truth at last: not in the bottom of a Well, but in the depths of their own Hearts.

And they married and were happy ever after.

"That was a nice ending," remarked the little girl. "I like it."

"Yes; very satisfactory, wasn't it?" said the little lady.

"How will the next story end, happily or sadly?"

"I haven't thought of it yet. You shall know to-morrow."

"I think I must go now," said the little girl. "I promised my little cousin to have a game of nine-pins with her before bed-time."

"Wait," said the Marionette. "I have something to tell you. I think to-morrow evening will be the last time I shall be able to speak with you. My power of talking to a Mortal is going; it will not last after our next meeting."

"Oh, I am sorry!" exclaimed the little girl. "I do not leave till two days after to-morrow, and I thought that you would be able to go on telling me stories up to the very last evening."

The little Marionette shook her head.

"It will be impossible," said she.

"And after to-morrow we shall not be able to talk to each other any more," exclaimed the little girl. "Oh, how sad!"

"Never mind, even if we cannot talk we can remain good friends. The deepest friendship is often the quietest."

"Then we can be very great friends indeed," said the little girl with much affection. "I am so glad, dear!"

"I am going out to-morrow afternoon to see the pantomime, but I shall come here as early as I can," she added as she went away. "Don't you be late."

"No, I won't," answered the Marionette.

"Remember!"

"Yes, I'll remember."

"How will you remember?"

"I'll tie a knot in my hair, so that when I brush it I shall feel that there is something to recollect."

"That's a good idea," said the little girl, and ran away in content.