"How?" asked Aunt Em.

"Ozma sees me every day at four o'clock, in her Magic Picture. She can
see me wherever I am, no matter what I am doing. And at that time, if
I make a certain secret sign, she will send for me by means of the
Magic Belt, which I once captured from the Nome King. Then, in the
wink of an eye, I shall be with Ozma in her palace."

The elder people remained silent for some time after Dorothy had
spoken. Finally, Aunt Em said, with another sigh of regret:

"If that is the case, Dorothy, perhaps you'd better go and live in the
Emerald City. It will break our hearts to lose you from our lives,
but you will be so much better off with your fairy friends that it
seems wisest and best for you to go."

"I'm not so sure about that," remarked Uncle Henry, shaking his gray
head doubtfully. "These things all seem real to Dorothy, I know; but
I'm afraid our little girl won't find her fairyland just what she had
dreamed it to be. It would make me very unhappy to think that she was
wandering among strangers who might be unkind to her."

Dorothy laughed merrily at this speech, and then she became very sober
again, for she could see how all this trouble was worrying her aunt
and uncle, and knew that unless she found a way to help them their
future lives would be quite miserable and unhappy. She knew that she
COULD help them. She had thought of a way already. Yet she did not
tell them at once what it was, because she must ask Ozma's consent
before she would be able to carry out her plans.