"What will you do with us?" asked Dot, looking at the Queen so anxiously that she forgot to drink her nectar.
"I'm going to adopt you," was the calm reply.
"Adopt us!" exclaimed the girl, wonderingly.
"Yes, that is the only thing to do. You are going to be my adopted daughter, the Princess Dot of Merryland; and your companion must become my adopted son, Prince Tot of Merryland."
"But must we always live here?" enquired Dot.
"Can't we go home again?" demanded Tot.
"Those are questions I cannot answer now," said the Queen. "For the time, at least, you must live with me, and I think you will be delighted with this Valley and all the pretty things I have to show you. Should you ever grow tired of Merryland we will talk about your leaving it. At present you will be wise to think of nothing but your happiness in becoming members of the royal family of this kingdom."
The boy and girl listened to this silently and thoughtfully, for although the Queen smiled, she spoke with a dignity and authority that made them realize she was very much in earnest. But seeing that her guests looked serious and troubled, the little lady soon rose from the table, saying more cheerfully as she did so, "It is nearly time for my army to drill, so, if it please you, we will sit upon the balcony and eat our ice cream while we watch the soldiers."
Dot and Tot sprang up at once and followed the Queen to a balcony that ran across the front of the palace. Here they seated themselves and were served with delicate ice-cream hollyhocks upon golden saucers by Twinkle and Scollops.
"Why do you call the maid Twinkle?" Dot asked the Queen.
"Because she steps so quickly and so softly, like the twinkling of a star, and because her eyes are so bright and sparkling," answered the Wax Doll.
"Why do you call him Scollops?" enquired Tot, pointing his finger at the boy doll.
"Because his hair is all knitted in scollops, and he has scollops around his wrists and at the bottom of his trousers."
Tot looked, and sure enough the scollops were there.
"You see we always have a reason for the names we bear in this kingdom. It is only in the big outside world that people have names that mean nothing," said the Queen.
"What is your name?" asked the girl.
"Haven't you heard it?" enquired the Queen, with a surprised look.
"No; I have only heard you called the Queen," said Dot; "but, of course, you must have a name of your own."
"Oh, I certainly have," answered the little lady. "My name is ." Then she stopped suddenly and leaned over the balcony, while she held up one of her pink hands and whispered: "Listen!"
The children now heard the sound of martial music approaching, and in a few minutes there marched around the corner of the palace a band of pewter musicians. They were dressed in brightly painted uniforms and marched proudly and in excellent time, while they played as loudly as possible upon their instruments.
Following the band came a squadron of pewter soldiers on horseback, and the horses reared and pranced, while the officers waved their pewter swords above their heads in an impressive manner. Next came the foot soldiers, company after company, wearing red painted uniforms and blue painted uniforms, as well as uniforms of green and yellow paint.
Not a man in the entire army was more than six inches high, and all were made of pewter just like the boxes of soldiers you buy at the toy shops; but they marched like real live soldiers, and there were so many of them that it was actually an impressive sight.
As each company passed beneath the balcony where the Queen sat, the men saluted her respectfully and the officers raised their hats, while the doll Queen bowed graciously in return.
"Isn't that a fine army?" she asked, proudly.
"They're rather small for soldiers," replied Dot.
"I could kick 'em all over with my foot!" said Tot.
"Oh, but that would be wrong," exclaimed the Queen. "Surely they haven't done you any harm."
"No," said Tot; "but I could fight 'em
all."
"It's wrong to fight," remarked the Queen, reprovingly.
"Then what do you have soldiers for?" questioned Dot.
"Why, to march and drill and look pretty, of course," answered the Queen. "I thought everyone loved to see soldiers march."
"I suppose they do," said the girl.
"No one should wish to hurt such brightly dressed creatures," continued her Majesty, "nor should a soldier wish to harm anyone else."
"Yet the wooden Captain at the gate threatened to stick his sword into us," declared the child.
"That's different," replied the Queen. "The wooden soldiers are guardians of the Valley, and it is their duty to threaten and scare folks. But had the Captain really hurt you with his sword, I should have had the quarrelsome fellow chopped into kindling wood. He's quite dry and would burn nicely."
They sat for some time watching the pewter soldiers drill, and finally the entire army marched away again. When they had gone, the little village seemed as silent and deserted as it had been before.