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Then Curdie, who at the first word of the king had slipped from his seat, and laid his ear to the ground, rose up quickly, and approaching the king said, speaking very fast: 'Please, Your Majesty, I think I know what it is. I have no time to explain, for that might make it too late for some of us.
On the floor lay a little round man, puffing and blowing, and uttering incoherent language. Curdie thought of his mattock, and ran and laid it aside. 'Oh, dear Dr Kelman! cried the princess, running up and taking hold of his arm; 'I am so sorry! She pulled and pulled, but might almost as well have tried to set up a cannon ball. 'I hope you have not hurt yourself?
Now the baker's wife had been watching what had passed since first her husband ran out of the shop, and she liked the look of Curdie. Also she was more honest than her husband. Casting a glance to the back door, she replied: 'That is not the best bread. I will sell you a loaf of what we bake for ourselves. And when she had spoken she laid a finger on her lips.
'Why, what else could he be? said one. 'He might have been after a lost kid, you know, suggested another. 'I see no good in trying to excuse him. He has no business here, anyhow. 'Let me go away, then, if you please, said Curdie. 'But we don't please not except you give a good account of yourself. 'I don't feel quite sure whether I can trust you, said Curdie.
The rest stood so still that some began to think they were only boys dressed up to look awful; they persuaded themselves they were only another part of the housemaid's and page's vengeful contrivance, and their evil spirits began to rise again. Meantime Curdie had, with a second sharp blow from the hammer of his mattock, disabled the cook, so that he yielded the spit with a groan.
'Now I know you are a true woman, said curdie. 'I am come to set things right in this house. Not one of the servants knows I am here. Will you tell them tomorrow morning that, if they do not alter their ways, and give over drinking, and lying, and stealing, and unkindness, they shall every one of them be driven from the palace? 'They will not believe me.
'Did it not startle the king dreadfully? 'It did rather. I found him getting out of bed, sword in hand. 'The brave old man! cried the princess. 'Not so old! said Curdie, 'as you will soon see. He went off again in a minute or so; but for a little while he was restless, and once when he lifted his hand it came down on the spikes of his crown, and he half waked.
The barber said, 'A crown. But the baker, annoyed at the heartlessness of the barber, in thinking more of his broken window than the bump on his friend's forehead, interfered. 'No, no, he said to Curdie; 'don't you pay any such sum. A little pane like that cost only a quarter. 'Well, to be certain, said Curdie, 'I'll give a half. For he doubted the baker as well as the barber.
The summons was preceded and followed by flourish of trumpet, and was read with every formality by the city marshal himself. The moment he ended, Lina ran into the little passage, and stood opposite the door. 'I surrender, cried Curdie. 'Then tie up your brute, and give her here. 'No, no, cried Curdie through the door. 'I surrender; but I'm not going to do your hangman's work.
But nobody except Curdie, who was holding his peace with all his might, saw any sense in the question. They said an old woman might be very glad to make herself look like a young one, but who ever heard of a young and beautiful one making herself look old and ugly? Peter asked why they were so much more ready to believe the bad that was said of her than the good.
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