of her
so that she shouldn't be seen.'

'And you fell down and stretched out your arms. Let me tell you, madam,
that you have merited severe punishment; you have broken the laws of
dolldom, wherein we all swear never to speak or show a sign that we can
understand the human world. You have broken the most solemn law in a
daring way without provocation----'

'Oh,' said the second doll with the squeaky voice, 'please, Mr.
Gollywog, don't be so severe; I think she had provocation: she cared
very much for the baby.'

'What are you talking about?' growled the Gollywog. 'We don't want your
opinion. We're going to have a trial now, and no women-dolls can sit on
juries, so you won't have anything to say. Provocation, indeed! If she
had pins stuck into her all over, or been roasted in front of a fire
until she melted, as some dolls have done, you might have talked of
provocation. She might have squeaked then, though many dolls have
bravely endured these things in silence and died; but because a
baby-doll she had taken a fancy to went away, to show off like that! She
deserves death.'

Whereupon he stumped down off his shelf, and hunted about for a man-doll
to make a jury to try the poor gentle doll. It was rather difficult to
find, for there were so few men-dolls; but at last he rummaged out of a
corner a sailor-boy doll, who was terribly afraid of him, and of him he
demanded:

'What do you think that doll is guilty of?'

'Please, sir,' said the sailor-boy, trembling all over, 'what do _you_
think?'

'I think she is guilty of a crime that deserves punishment by death.'

'Punishment by death!' echoed the sailor-boy.

Thereupon the Gollywog made a spring upwards to the shelf, and the poor
little gentle doll gave a shriek and lost her balance, and fell head
first on to the floor, where she was smashed to pieces.

When the shopgirls came again in the morning, the one who had served
the lady found her lying there with her pretty wax face all broken.

'Oh dear,' she said, 'how careless of me! She fell off the shelf, to be
sure; I remember seeing her fall down when I took away the other doll. I
ought to have put her back.'

But the Gollywog, who had returned safely to his own corner, chuckled to
himself silently.

CHAPTER IX

DOGS AND CATS

Have you ever heard of the Dogs' Home? It is for all the poor lost dogs
that the policemen find in the streets of London. Once upon a time there
was a very naughty little