through the glass wall of the palace,--for
she was in far too great a hurry to go round to the door,--and she made
a hole large enough to slip through; and into the room she bounded,
where Martin sat thinking about her.

They kissed each other a great many times; and Martin pulled the cotton
wool out of her two little pink ears, and told her all that had
happened, and how miserable he had been because he could not keep his
promise to her, and how dreadfully tired he was of conversation.

"Even now," he added, sadly, "I don't suppose they will let me go with
you. Just listen to their stupid voices! I shall have to bear that
for the rest of my life."

"Oh, no, you won't!" buzzed the voices in the air. "You can go away as
soon as you like. It is quite hopeless to think of making you into
conversation; you are the most unconversational prisoner we have ever
captured. If the Princess had not put cotton wool in her ears we
should have caught her directly; and what splendid conversation she
would have made! Unfortunately, she is out of our power now, because
she reached you without speaking a word; so you can go off together as
soon as you like."

They did not wait to be told twice, but set off at once, hand in hand,
and walked straight on until they reached the top of the hill that
slopes down into the valley where the Wonderful Toymaker lives. Then
they ran a race down the side of the hill; and of course Martin allowed
the Princess to win, so she was the first, after all, to see the most
wonderful toyshop in the world. It was so wonderful that she actually
remained speechless with astonishment, until Martin caught her up; and
then they stood side by side and stared at it.

To begin with, it was not a toyshop at all. The whole of the valley
was strewn with toys: they lay on the ground in heaps, they were piled
high up on the rocks, they hung from the trees and made them look like
huge Christmas trees, and they covered the bushes like blossoms:
wherever the children looked, they saw toys, toys, toys. And such
toys, too! People who have never been to Fairyland can have no idea of
the toys that are made by the Wonderful Toymaker; even Martin, who was
a friend of the fairies, had never seen anything like them before. As
for the Princess Petulant--her large blue eyes were open, and her
little round mouth was open, and she could not have spoken a word to
please anybody.

Then, suddenly, into the middle of it all