He sighed as he said it, and his mouth was very full, so we knew he was
thinking of his Princess. He says now that she was as beautiful as the
day, but we remember her quite well, and she was nothing of the kind.



CHAPTER 7
BEING BANDITS

Noel was quite tiresome for ever so long after we found the Princess.
He would keep on wanting to go to the Park when the rest of us didn't,
and though we went several times to please him, we never found that door
open again, and all of us except him knew from the first that it would
be no go.

So now we thought it was time to do something to rouse him from the
stupor of despair, which is always done to heroes when anything baffling
has occurred. Besides, we were getting very short of money again--the
fortunes of your house cannot be restored (not so that they will last,
that is), even by the one pound eight we got when we had the 'good
hunting.' We spent a good deal of that on presents for Father's
birthday. We got him a paper-weight, like a glass bun, with a picture
of Lewisham Church at the bottom; and a blotting-pad, and a box of
preserved fruits, and an ivory penholder with a view of Greenwich Park
in the little hole where you look through at the top. He was most
awfully pleased and surprised, and when he heard how Noel and Oswald had
earned the money to buy the things he was more surprised still. Nearly
all the rest of our money went to get fireworks for the Fifth of
November. We got six Catherine wheels and four rockets; two
hand-lights, one red and one green; a sixpenny maroon; two