First came a large company of soldiers almost exactly like Captain
Jinks and the sergeant, except that their uniforms were a little
shabbier-looking, and their arms a little less brightly polished. They
held themselves stiffly and marched very well, in spite of the fact
that many of them had suffered severe injuries, such as the loss of a
leg or an arm at the least, in some former campaign, and all of them
were rather the worse for wear. After the soldiers came the band,
playing shrilly on their tiny instruments, and next, to the children's
delight and astonishment, rolled a number of little carriages drawn by
mechanical horses. Rudolf was so keenly interested in the working of
these mechanical horses, that he hardly noticed the fine ladies who
sat stiffly on the cushioned seats of the carriages, very grandly
dressed, and holding beautiful pink and blue parasols over their
curled heads.

Suddenly Ann grabbed his arm and whispered: "Look, look! Did you see
them? Marie-Louise and Angelina-Elfrida, my _own_ dolls, and they
never so much as bowed!"

"Perhaps they didn't know you," whispered Rudolf.

"They did, too," returned his sister angrily. "They just laughed and
turned their heads the other way, horrid things! Just wait, I'll tell
them what I think of them; but, oh, Rudolf, here come more carriages
and more dolls in them, and how queerly they are dressed, these last,
I mean! I never saw any dolls like them before. See their poke
bonnets, and their fringed mantles, and their little hoop-skirts,
but, oh, look, _look_, can that be the Queen?"