'I didn't mean to play, but it _is_ so like a fairy story,' she said penitently. 'And it's quite true about the locking up. They've put her in the barn, Peter and the others have,--not Kit,--and they mean to keep her there till you've gone away, so that--so that you won't get a chance of marrying and living happily ever after! It's to save Jill from you, they say, but Kit's furious about it, and----'
The Doctor flung his driving-gloves on the table. They were quite new ones, she noticed, and he had even forgotten to take the tissue paper off the buttons of one of them. 'Where is the barn?' he asked grimly.
'It's at the far end of the nine-acre field,' explained Barbara, and before she could say any more she found she was alone.
Excitement had made her forget all about her tea, though the hour for it was long past. She wished with all her heart that she could be transported to the scene of the rescue and actually see the princess fall into the prince's arms, while the giant lay stretched at their feet. Then she remembered that the giant was Peter, and perhaps Will and Bobbin too, and she hoped he would not lie stretched there for long.
The minutes crept slowly by, and still no one came in. It was no use looking out of the window, for the nine-acre field was on the other side of the house, beyond the orchard. Then she began to be afraid that something dreadful must have happened. She reminded herself again that Peter was the giant, and that the Doctor was small and slight in comparison, even for a prince. Supposing, contrary though it was to all the laws of fairy tale, that the giant should be too strong for the prince, and the princess should not be rescued after all? At last she heard the welcome sound of footsteps coming along the gallery, and then Jill opened the door softly and hurried up to her. The Doctor was just behind her.
'My dear little Babs!' cried Jill, dropping on her knees beside the sofa, 'have you been wondering what had become of me?'
'Oh, no,' answered the child; 'I knew about the dark and gruesome dungeon. But I think I'd like my tea, please.'
'Of course you would,' said Jill, in much distress, and she began bustling about the room and making preparations for tea in quite a flustered sort of way. Babs turned to the Doctor. A question was burning on the tip of her tongue, and he smiled encouragingly.