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And then Anthea hurriedly stroked the Psammead and embraced Jane, who took the woman's hand, and
trotted contentedly away with the Psammead's bag under the other arm.
The others stood looking after her till she, the woman, and the basket were lost in the many-coloured
crowd. Then Anthea turned once more to the palace's magnificent doorway and said
'Let's ask the porter to take care of our Babylonian overcoats.'
So they took off the garments that the woman had lent them and stood amid the jostling petitioners of the
Queen in their own English frocks and coats and hats and boots.
'We want to see the Queen, said Cyril;  we come from the far Empire where the sun never sets!'
A murmur of surprise and a thrill of excitement ran through the crowd. The door-porter spoke to a black
man, he spoke to someone else. There was a whispering, waiting pause. Then a big man, with a
cleanly-shaven face, beckoned them from the top of a flight of red marble steps.
They went up; the boots of Robert clattering more than usual because he was so nervous. A door swung
open, a curtain was drawn back. A double line of bowing forms in gorgeous raiment formed a lane that
led to the steps of the throne, and as the children advanced hurriedly there came from the throne a voice
very sweet and kind.
'Three children from the land where the sun never sets! Let them draw hither without fear.'
In another minute they were kneeling at the throne's foot, saying,  O Queen, live for ever! exactly as the
woman had taught them. And a splendid dream-lady, all gold and silver and jewels and snowy drift of
veils, was raising Anthea, and saying
'Don't be frightened, I really am SO glad you came! The land where the sun never sets! I am delighted to
see you! I was getting quite too dreadfully bored for anything!'
And behind Anthea the kneeling Cyril whispered in the ears of the respectful Robert
'Bobs, don't say anything to Panther. It's no use upsetting her, but we didn't ask for Jane's address, and
the Psammead's with her.'
'Well, whispered Robert,  the charm can bring them to us at any moment. IT said so.'
'Oh, yes, whispered Cyril, in miserable derision,  WE'RE all right, of course. So we are! Oh, yes! If
we'd only GOT the charm.'
Then Robert saw, and he murmured,  Crikey! at the foot of the throne of Babylon; while Cyril hoarsely
whispered the plain English fact
'Jane's got the charm round her neck, you silly cuckoo.'
'Crikey! Robert repeated in heart-broken undertones.
CHAPTER 7:  THE DEEPEST DUNGEON BELOW THE CASTLE MOAT'
The Queen threw three of the red and gold embroidered cushions off the throne on to the marble steps
that led up to it.
'Just make yourselves comfortable there, she said.  I'm simply dying to talk to you, and to hear all about
your wonderful country and how you got here, and everything, but I have to do justice every morning.
Such a bore, isn't it? Do you do justice in your own country?'
'No, said Cyril;  at least of course we try to, but not in this public sort of way, only in private.  Ah, yes,
said the Queen,  I should much prefer a private audience myself-much easier to manage. But public
opinion has to be considered. Doing justice is very hard work, even when you're brought up to it.'
'We don't do justice, but we have to do scales, Jane and me, said Anthea,  twenty minutes a day. It's
simply horrid.'
'What are scales? asked the Queen,  and what is Jane?'
'Jane is my little sister. One of the guards-at-the-gate's wife is taking care of her. And scales are music.'
'I never heard of the instrument, said the Queen.  Do you sing?'
'Oh, yes. We can sing in parts, said Anthea.
'That IS magic, said the Queen.  How many parts are you each cut into before you do it?'
'We aren't cut at all, said Robert hastily.  We couldn't sing if we were. We'll show you afterwards.'
'So you shall, and now sit quiet like dear children and hear me do justice. The way I do it has always
been admired. I oughtn't to say that ought I? Sounds so conceited. But I don't mind with you, dears.
Somehow I feel as though I'd known you quite a long time already.'
The Queen settled herself on her throne and made a signal to her attendants. The children, whispering
together among the cushions on the steps of the throne, decided that she was very beautiful and very
kind, but perhaps just the least bit flighty.
The first person who came to ask for justice was a woman whose brother had taken the money the father
had left for her. The brother said it was the uncle who had the money. There was a good deal of talk and
the children were growing rather bored, when the Queen suddenly clapped her hands, and said
'Put both the men in prison till one of them owns up that the other is innocent.'
'But suppose they both did it? Cyril could not help interrupting.
'Then prison's the best place for them, said the Queen.
'But suppose neither did it.'
'That's impossible, said the Queen;  a thing's not done unless someone does it. And you mustn't
interrupt.'
Then came a woman, in tears, with a torn veil and real ashes on her head-at least Anthea thought so, but
it may have been only road-dust. She complained that her husband was in prison.
'What for? said the Queen. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]