The Lonesomest Doll (1928)/Chapter 8
VIII
The Toy-Room
They soon forgot all about Nichette’s uninvited call. They forgot Pierre, who was hunting high and low for his bunch of keys. They forgot the Queen’s anxious ladies-in-waiting, who never thought of looking for her in the toy-room, but were searching wildly all over the rest of the palace from watch-tower to the dark dungeons underground. They even forgot Nichette’s dolls waiting patiently for her under the rosebush. For Nichette and the Queen were pulling open all the boxes of toys, scattering things over the floor, and having a beautiful time.
“Oh, what lovely, lovely playthings!” cried Nichette, jumping up and down and clapping her hands over a fine teaset.
“Are they lovely?” said the Queen, “I never thought so before. I don’t know what to do with them. My subjects are always sending me expensive things which my guardians say are too nice to use. So they pack them off here to be kept safely. But we will use them now, Nichette, and you shall play with me.”
So they emptied out the gold-and-silver dishes that were so easily scratched. And they set up the play-house furniture of real rosewood that showed every thumb-mark and had always been handled by servants with gloves. And they arranged the best doll-house for Mignon to live in, and gave a tea party.
Oh, what fun it was! The lonesomest doll had never been so happy. And as for the Queen, she actually laughed out loud six times, which was something no one had ever heard her do. All this time she had not touched Mignon,—she seemed almost afraid to handle the doll, poor little Queen. But at last she said,
“Nichette, I think I will take Mignon for a little while.” And with a sigh Nichette handed the lonesomest doll to her truly mamma. Clotilde held her awkwardly at first.
“Do you think she likes it?” she asked timidly. “I don’t yet know how, very well.”
Nichette clapped her hands and danced for joy. “Oh, she is so happy!” she cried. “Kiss her, Queen.”
Clotilde hesitated. “I—I don’t know how,” she faltered.
“Don’t know how to kiss her! Oh, Queen! I will show you,” and Nichette threw her arms about the two, and kissed first the doll, then the little royal mother. Clotilde turned very pale, then red as one of the garden roses.
“I never had any one kiss me before,” she said. “No one in the palace would dare. My uncles and aunts would not think of doing anything so—so undignified. Is that why you called Mignon the lonesomest doll,—because I left her all alone and never kissed her?”
Nichette nodded.
“Well, I am more lonesome than she, Nichette,” said the little Queen sadly, looking down at the doll and hugging her close. “Does your mamma kiss you often like that?”
“Every night and every morning and sometimes in between,” returned Nichette proudly. “Often in between when I am very good.”
The Queen gave a sudden sigh, and the tears began to roll down her cheeks. “I never had any mother to kiss me,” she said. “Oh, how I wish I could have a real mother-kiss once, just once, Nichette!”
Nichette was busy thinking. It was growing dark, and she began to realize that she must be going home, though she hated to leave her new friend the Queen and the dear doll, no longer lonesome. Suddenly she clapped her hands and turned to Clotilde eagerly. “Oh, I have a plan!” she cried. “Would you really like to have a mother kiss you good-night, Queen?”
The Queen nodded wonderingly.
“Then this is what we will do. It is nearly dusk and I must go home. Father will punish me when he finds out what I have done, but I don’t care. Dear Queen, you shall come home with me; I will hide you somewhere, and when it is bedtime you shall snuggle in my little bed, and mother will kiss you in the dark instead of me. Then when they think me asleep, we will steal back here out of the window and I will lock the doors and the gates behind you with Father’s keys. Is it not a lovely plan?”
At first Clotilde was frightened. She had never before thought of running away from the palace, and it seemed very wicked. But she had grown so tired of doing as every one expected her to do, that soon the idea seemed pleasant. Besides, she longed and longed for that real mother-kiss. It was an exciting adventure, and would be something to remember always. Her eyes began to sparkle and she grew as eager as Nichette herself. For she was full of fun, was this poor little Queen who had never played.
“I’ll do it!” she cried. “They will hunt for me, but they dare not be angry when I come back. For am I not the Queen?” She drew herself up proudly, and for the first time Nichette felt awed and impressed. But Clotilde soon became little-girlish again.
“I will go with you, Nichette,” she said, putting her hand in her little friend’s. “And Mignon shall go also. But we must hurry, or they will come hunting for us both, and then I could never go.”
So, holding Mignon close, the Queen followed Nichette away, through the armor room, down the dark crooked stairway, until they came out upon the Queen’s lawn in front of the palace. And this was the first time that the Queen had ever been out of doors without a grown person or a servant to watch and ward her.
