gazing at something on the floor, but Ann couldn't see what it was. Then she heard a piteous voice.
"Oh, please do not play with me any more!" it cried. "I am so tired!" It was the voice of Rebecca.
And far down on the floor, the four children made out the forms of Ivanhoe and Brian de Bois-Guilbert, standing one on each side of Rebecca as though to protect her.
The voice of the female giant now made itself heard.
"Why, the very idea! What impudence. Don't you pay a bit of attention to what the horrid little thing says. You play with them. Play just as hard as you can. Play house with the girl and soldiers with the boys."
"Yes, Mama!" said the child giant. And she picked Rebecca up and started undressing her, and then got tired of that halfway through and put her down in a draft, and took hold of Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert instead, and started marching them up and down the floor in a childish and elementary manner.
Ann and Roger and Eliza looked at each other with indignation.
"It's an insult to the whole order of knighthood!" sputtered Roger.
"
I
think it's an outrage!" said Eliza.
"What have those giants got there? Dolls?" said Jack.
"No, that's Ivanhoe and Rebecca and Bois-Guilbert," Ann told him. "It's dolls that have got
them!
"
For of course that was the secret of the Giants' Lair. It was the neglected dollhouse Aunt Katharine had given Ann, that she had never played with, except to plunder its rooms when she was furbishing the Magic City.
"I knew there was something wrong with that dollhouse the minute I saw it," Eliza was saying now to Ann.
"You're right," said Ann. "They're not nice dolls."
The little girl doll (or giant) now decided to play war and make Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert have a deadly combat. She did this in crude fashion by holding one of them in each hand and then knocking them together, hard.
"Sorry, old man," said Bois-Guilbert. "Was that my boot in thy left eye?"
" 'Twas not thy fault, old fellow," said Ivanhoe. "Oops! Did I crack thy crown? Blame not me. Blame this monstrous child."
"I do," said Bois-Guilbert. "I blame her more than I can say. And more of the same from her I will not suffer!" And he drew his sword and attacked the giant child.
Of course to her it was as the prick of a mere pin, but she immediately dropped both knights on the floor (stunning them badly) and began to cry, in the whining tone of all crying dolls.
"Mama," she cried. "It hurt me!"
"Why, the vicious thing," said her mother.
"We won't have any more of that!" said the father giant. "They are not fit pets for you to play with! They should be destroyed!"
At this the child giant began to cry louder, but her mother soothed her. "Wait," she said. "I have an idea. Come with me, and Mama will put some iodine on your finger, and then we will come back and Papa will get his pliers and remove their stings. Then you may play with them just as much as you want to."
And the child giant suffered herself to be led away, her father pausing only long enough to put Ivanhoe and Rebecca and Bois-Guilbert on a table, for safekeeping.
As soon as they'd gone, Eliza said, "Pssst."
Rebecca looked around the room.
"Up here," said Ann.
Rebecca's eyes found the window, high up near the ceiling, and her face lighted. " 'Tis Roger!" she cried. "And the witch and the sorceress with him!"
"Then haply we may hope again," said Ivanhoe.
"Oh Roger," said Bois-Guilbert, humbly. "Thou and I hast crossed swords more than once in days of yore, but fetch us out of this prison and I shall atone for my many sins!"
"Well, for Heaven's sake!" said Eliza, in surprise. "How you've changed, haven't you?"
"We'll save you all if we can," said Roger. "Anyway, we'll try."
"Wait there," said Jack.
"We needs must," said Ivanhoe, peering down from the table. "Other choice offereth there none."
Roger and Ann and Jack and Eliza scrambled out from their perch on the windowsill (for the drop from there was even higher than the drop from the table)
"Oh, please do not play with me any more!" it cried. "I am so tired!" It was the voice of Rebecca.
And far down on the floor, the four children made out the forms of Ivanhoe and Brian de Bois-Guilbert, standing one on each side of Rebecca as though to protect her.
The voice of the female giant now made itself heard.
"Why, the very idea! What impudence. Don't you pay a bit of attention to what the horrid little thing says. You play with them. Play just as hard as you can. Play house with the girl and soldiers with the boys."
"Yes, Mama!" said the child giant. And she picked Rebecca up and started undressing her, and then got tired of that halfway through and put her down in a draft, and took hold of Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert instead, and started marching them up and down the floor in a childish and elementary manner.
Ann and Roger and Eliza looked at each other with indignation.
"It's an insult to the whole order of knighthood!" sputtered Roger.
"
I
think it's an outrage!" said Eliza.
"What have those giants got there? Dolls?" said Jack.
"No, that's Ivanhoe and Rebecca and Bois-Guilbert," Ann told him. "It's dolls that have got
them!
"
For of course that was the secret of the Giants' Lair. It was the neglected dollhouse Aunt Katharine had given Ann, that she had never played with, except to plunder its rooms when she was furbishing the Magic City.
"I knew there was something wrong with that dollhouse the minute I saw it," Eliza was saying now to Ann.
"You're right," said Ann. "They're not nice dolls."
The little girl doll (or giant) now decided to play war and make Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert have a deadly combat. She did this in crude fashion by holding one of them in each hand and then knocking them together, hard.
"Sorry, old man," said Bois-Guilbert. "Was that my boot in thy left eye?"
" 'Twas not thy fault, old fellow," said Ivanhoe. "Oops! Did I crack thy crown? Blame not me. Blame this monstrous child."
"I do," said Bois-Guilbert. "I blame her more than I can say. And more of the same from her I will not suffer!" And he drew his sword and attacked the giant child.
Of course to her it was as the prick of a mere pin, but she immediately dropped both knights on the floor (stunning them badly) and began to cry, in the whining tone of all crying dolls.
"Mama," she cried. "It hurt me!"
"Why, the vicious thing," said her mother.
"We won't have any more of that!" said the father giant. "They are not fit pets for you to play with! They should be destroyed!"
At this the child giant began to cry louder, but her mother soothed her. "Wait," she said. "I have an idea. Come with me, and Mama will put some iodine on your finger, and then we will come back and Papa will get his pliers and remove their stings. Then you may play with them just as much as you want to."
And the child giant suffered herself to be led away, her father pausing only long enough to put Ivanhoe and Rebecca and Bois-Guilbert on a table, for safekeeping.
As soon as they'd gone, Eliza said, "Pssst."
Rebecca looked around the room.
"Up here," said Ann.
Rebecca's eyes found the window, high up near the ceiling, and her face lighted. " 'Tis Roger!" she cried. "And the witch and the sorceress with him!"
"Then haply we may hope again," said Ivanhoe.
"Oh Roger," said Bois-Guilbert, humbly. "Thou and I hast crossed swords more than once in days of yore, but fetch us out of this prison and I shall atone for my many sins!"
"Well, for Heaven's sake!" said Eliza, in surprise. "How you've changed, haven't you?"
"We'll save you all if we can," said Roger. "Anyway, we'll try."
"Wait there," said Jack.
"We needs must," said Ivanhoe, peering down from the table. "Other choice offereth there none."
Roger and Ann and Jack and Eliza scrambled out from their perch on the windowsill (for the drop from there was even higher than the drop from the table)
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