his head.

"One gets very hard blows sometimes in the search for Truth," he said
ruefully.

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry," remarked Jack-in-the-box. "Take
things more calmly, and ask the Policeman. Kindly shut up the lid of my
box. I can't very well manage it myself, I'm so springy. Close it
firmly, please, or I shall be jumping out again, and I don't want to do
that. I wish to stay indoors to-day as much as possible, for I have a
heavy cold in my head and am sneezing every two minutes."

"_That_ didn't do much good," said the Grocer when he had done as he was
asked, and closed the lid of Jack's box.

"Let us find the Policeman," she said, holding out her hand.

"An excellent idea," he replied as he took it. "There he is, just
outside that dolls' house.

"Constable," he said, "can you direct us to the Well with Truth at the
bottom?"

"First to the right, second to the left, and keep on till you come to
it," the policeman answered, without removing his eyes from the kitchen
window.

"Not that I ever heard tell of any such Well," he added, putting his
head inside and speaking to the Little China Doll within.

"Then you're a deceiver," she said severely, as she handed him a joint
of beef tightly gummed on to a wooden platter.

"You're sure to arrive at anything if you keep on till you get it," he
answered carelessly. "So it doesn't really matter if you take the first
to the right and the second to the left, or the second to the right and
the first to the left. You are bound to get there in time.... This beef
is gummed so tightly to the dish that it is a job to get it off...."

In the meantime the Grocer and the Farthing Doll were wandering about
trying to find the Well. They sought for a long time, but they could not
see a sign of it.

"We'll never find it," she said in despair. "And I am growing so tired I
am beginning to lose all my good looks. All the crimson is wearing off
my cheeks."

"Come, come, my dear, we won't give up yet," he said. "Console
yourself; I believe many others have been in the same plight before us."

"I don't mind if they have," she said, tired and impatient.

Now the Grocer was a man of quick intellect. His thoughts were not
solely given to the selling of raisins, currants, flour, rice and other
groceries. As the Farthing Doll spoke, a very clever idea came into his
head.

"Wait!" he said thoughtfully. "Your last remark has given me a new idea.
You mentioned the word _min