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a piece, three inches, over, so I made an apron for Tottie. Do you see, Emily, the lace is worked with ferns? Your great-grandmother’s drawing room might easily
have had lace curtains worked with ferns. They were very fashionable then.’
    ‘We shall keep them always, we shall never change them,’ said Emily solemnly. ‘Nor will our children’s children.’
    ‘Do you suppose Tottie will see them?’ asked Charlotte. ‘I mean our children’s children, not the chairs.’
    ‘She may,’ said Emily.
    ‘That makes me think,’ said Charlotte, and she added, ‘I seem to have been thinking a great deal of thinking lately.
    It was a solemn morning. Mrs Innisfree and Emily did an account and it seemed that the cost of the lace curtains, of Mrs Innisfree’s French polisher and upholsterer, and of the silks and
canvas for the chairs, came to eight and tenpence, which was just the money they had had in their money boxes, though Charlotte now had the sixpence for her tooth and Emily had saved another
half-crown.
    ‘I believe you are saying eight and tenpence,’ said Emily, looking hard at Mrs Innisfree, ‘because you knew it was eight and tenpence that we had,’ said Emily.
    ‘And if I am?’ said Mrs Innisfree. ‘If I enjoy it?’
    ‘And we can’t pay you for the time,’ said Charlotte, ‘nor for the thinking. I wonder what makes thinking,’ said Charlotte. ‘It is funny how one thing begins
another.’
    ‘And how it all leads on,’ said Emily.
    ‘Yes, it joins,’ said Charlotte, wrinkling her forehead. ‘I have been thinking of thinking. And there is no knowing where it leads to, or when it will end, or where.’

Chapter 14
    On Christmas morning the Plantaganets woke to hear real carol singers in the street outside.
    ‘ Peace and goodwill among men ,’ sang the carol singers.
    ‘And among dolls,’ said Mr Plantaganet. ‘I hope among dolls.’
    ‘ Peace and goodwill. ’ The voices brought Christmas into the dolls’ house. ‘Can such a large thing as Christmas be in a dolls’ house?’ asked Mr
Plantaganet. ‘It is so large. See, it has spread over the whole world, and for so many years, nearly two thousand years,’ said Mr Plantaganet, the dark brown of his eyes looking large
too. ‘How large it is,’ said Mr Plantaganet.
    ‘It is beautifully small too,’ said Tottie. ‘Perfectly small.’
    You might think that, to a doll, many things would seem too large, but no. A doll is not as small as a beetle, for instance, and a beetle’s world is just right for a beetle. When, too, you
have lived as long as Tottie, you will learn that small things are not as small as they seem, nor large things as large; nothing is small and nothing is large when you have become accustomed to the
world. Now the carols brought the spirit of Christmas into the dolls’ house.
    ‘I like “Peace and Goodwill”,’ said Tottie.
    ‘I like “The Holly and the Ivy”,’ said Mr Plantaganet. ‘They are like the colours in this house. I like “Prince of Peace”; that suits it too. I know
about peace now,’ said Mr Plantaganet. ‘In the days of the toy cupboard –’ he began and his eyes looked darker and he did not go on. ‘Yes, I like “The Prince of
Peace”, but the one that I like best of all is “God Bless the Master of This House”, because I am the Master,’ said Mr Plantaganet.
    Birdie liked the rocking carol, only she mixed it with ‘Rock-a-Bye Baby’, but after all it was nearly the same thing.
    ‘ Peace and goodwill, ’ sang the carol singers.
    The dolls’ house, that Christmas, looked very pleasant. Emily and Charlotte had decorated it; they made wreaths of moss on curtain rings, that looked like holly wreaths, and they had
strung holly berries for garlands. Emily had even made a paper chain with very small links. Birdie liked the paper chain best of anything. The new chairs and couch looked handsome in the drawing
room, and there was a Christmas tree, six inches high, standing