orus of little murmurs of
satisfaction from the imprisoned gowns.

"This is a very curious adventure," thought the little queen, as she
trotted on, fancying she saw faces grinning at her out of the furniture
and down from the ceiling; and then she stopped again, quite sure she
heard very peculiar sounds coming out of an antique bureau which stood
in a corner. After her conversation with the gowns this did not surprise
her much at all, and she put her ear to the keyhole at once.

"Clink! Clink!
What do you think?
Here we are
Shut up in a drawer,"

cried the queer little voices coming out of the bureau.

"What can _this_ be about, I wonder?" said Pet, and turning the key,
peeped in. There she beheld a whole heap of gold and silver lying in the
depths of the bureau, all the guineas and shillings hopping about and
clinking against each other and singing:

"Take us out
And give us about,
And then we shall do
Some good, no doubt!"

"Why, what do you want to get out for?" asked Pet, looking down at them.

"To help the poor, of course!" said the money. "We were put in here by
the good queen, your mother, and saved up for the poor who deserve to be
assisted. But now every one has forgotten us, and we are rusting away
while there is so much distress in the kingdom."

"Well," said Pet, "I shall see to your case; for I promise you I am
going to know more about these wonderful poor."

She shut up the bureau, and went on further exploring the rooms, and now
you may be pretty sure her ears were wide open for every sound. It was
not long before she heard a creaking and squeaking that came from a
large wicker-basket which was twisting about in the most discontented
manner.

"Once on a time I was filled with bread,
But now I stand as if I were dead,"

mourned the basket.

"And why were you filled with bread?" asked Pet.

"Your mother used to fill me," squeaked the basket, "and give the bread
out of me to feed the poor."

"Why! do you mean to say that the poor have no bread to eat?" asked
Pet. "That is really a most dreadful thing. I must speak to my
Government about these poor immediately. Whatever my mother did must
have been perfectly right at all events, and I shall do the same!"

And off she went back towards her nursery, meeting all her twelve nurses
flying along the corridors to look for her.

"Go directly and tell my Government that I want to speak to it," said
Q