The Lonesomest Doll (1928)/Chapter 16
XVI
And They Lived Happily Ever After
Meanwhile Clotilde had told Nichette all about what had happened that eventful night,—about the robbers, and Black Bête, and Jean’s horse that stumbled by the road; and how Raoul and the others had found her, thanks to Mignon’s cry of “Mamma, Mamma, Mamma!”
“And do you know, Nichette,” said the Queen gravely, “you and Mignon and the robbers have been very good to me. You have taught me many things, and I shall never be the same stupid, proud, selfish little Doll-Queen shut up in my box of a palace. I have learned something about the world outside, and in spite of the badness and the darkness,—I like it. I am going to be a part of it, a live little girl like you, Nichette. I shall play out of doors with you as often as I can. And you must let me share your dear father and mother, for they are best of all. I have nothing so good to share with you,—for it is I who have been the lonesomest Queen. But what I have shall be yours also, Nichette, from this night.”
So they reached the palace gate, and Nichette bade her new little friend good-night. And a good night it was for the tired, happy Queen. For Mignon slept beside her on the pillow, and her dreams were all of pleasant things which were to happen thereafter in the garden where Nichette had her playhouse.
And the best of it all was that the dreams came true. For on the next day the Queen had a long talk with her uncles and aunts; and she told them that she wanted to be a real little girl and to live out among her people, so that she might grow up a strong, brave, noble queen who knew about the lives of those whom she was to rule. Of course they were very much shocked and surprised. But the Queen sent for Captain Raoul and for Pierre, whom she had made a Lieutenant, and asked them whether the army would not be on her side. And they said, “Yes, indeed!” The soldiers were all for their little Queen. That very day they were going out to find and punish Jean and Jacques for daring to interfere with her. For whatever she wished must be done in the kingdom, and it would go hard with any one who opposed her.
Then the uncles and aunts looked queerly at one another, and trembled. But they sent to look the matter up in the big book of the State Laws, where they found nothing to say that a queen should not have her will in the kingdom of her father and grandfather and great-grandfather. Moreover, you see, the army was on her side. So they were forced to agree that what she wanted she might do.
After that, with Raoul and Pierre to help her, there was no trouble. The Queen came and went from the palace to Pierre’s home, where she played half the time at being a little cottage girl like Nichette, with a real father and mother to love her.
And Nichette spent half her time in the palace with the Queen, where she played at being a princess. They studied and sewed and practiced together; and on rainy mornings they had famous times in the big playroom with the shelves of toys. Nichette’s dolls went also, and shared all the fun with Mignon,—no longer the lonesomest doll, but the happiest doll in the world, because her dear little Queen-mamma loved her so well.
But the nicest times were the sunshiny days when the two children and the five dolls played out under the rosebush in the Queen’s garden. The paths were never swept nowadays, for the Queen loved to see the rose petals scattered all about and the grass long and lushy, so that one could almost hide under its cool greenness. Moreover, nowadays the fountain was always playing; and Nichette never tired of watching the great fish spout high into the air,—quite ten feet as Pierre had declared. And when the sundial showed that it was time, Clotilde would blow a little silver whistle, and a servant would bring their luncheon out under the rosebush, where they could picnic quite by themselves, as on that happy day when they became acquainted.
So Clotilde, like Nichette herself, grew strong, fat, and rosy in the sunshine and the fresh air and the neighborhood of love. Her eyes were no longer sad, but sparkled like the rainbow drops on the edge of the fountain. For she knew that every one loved her more and more each day, and that there was nothing which her people would not do for her sake. And she hoped to grow up a wise, kind queen who would rule them in the very best way, so that her kingdom should become famous among Kings and Princes for its prosperity and peace. And the Wise Men knew that her hope was to be fulfilled.
“It is good to be a queen, nowadays,” she would say, with her arm around Nichette’s neck and with Mignon on her lap. And Mignon, in the tattered satin dress which the Queen loved best of all, because it reminded her of that exciting night,—Mignon would say as the Queen hugged her tight, “Mamma, Mamma, Mamma!” while in her heart she thought, “It is good to be a queen’s doll, nowadays. Oh, could I ever really have been the lonesomest doll?”
But if she had not been the Lonesomest Doll, once upon a time, all these things would not have happened, and there would have been no story to tell.
The End