Back to the World

"GEORGE, darling!" George rubbed his eyes. Ah, it was the beautiful Queen kissing him again.

"George!" Ah, it was the witch this time. He knew her voice well enough. She must have come back again. It felt like a dream, but there were dreams within dreams, and he didn't really know which was the true dream. He must be back in his little house again ... but hadn't the fairies brought him home? The fairies? Then had he been dreaming about these adventures, and, if so, where was he now? There were really fairies, anyway; he was quite sure about that!

And so he went on thinking and thinking, although the voice, such a sweet voice, kept repeating "George, darling!"

What was that? Alexander's bark! "Wuff! Wuff!" That was all right. Alexander would explain everything.

"Wuff! Wuff!" right in his ear. He sat up with a start.

Why, he was in bed in his own room! There was Alexander sitting with his head a little on one side looking at him, and thump-thumping with his tail on the bed-clothes.

And there were the beautiful Queen and the witch ... no, it wasn't ... it was Mother bending over him and saying "George, darling!" and there was Nurse sitting knitting. How odd!

"You have been sound asleep, dear. It was Alexander who woke you up at last," said Mother. Nurse said nothing, but she smiled such a peculiar smile. Where had George seen that smile before? Could Nurse be a witch?

His head was so full of all his wonderful adventures that he wanted to begin to tell them all about it at once. But Mother said "No!" and Nurse said "No!" and Alexander said nothing, but just lay on the bed and smiled all the time.

Oh, it was annoying! Every time he began his story Mother said: "George, dear, you mustn't get so excited," and Nurse said: "Time for your medicine!"

The doctor arrived in his little motor, puff-puffing away as hard as ever.

"Well, how are we to-day?" he said. "Feeling a little better, eh?"

"I'm all right," answered George. "I want to get up and go out with Alexander!"

"H'm! You weren't so well after you had been out yesterday, you know. You should take care of yourself." And the doctor bent over him, felt his pulse, looked at his tongue, and did all the tiresome things doctors do when we aren't well.

"He really seems much better. In fact, you can let him go for a walk so long as he doesn't overheat himself," George heard him say to Mother.

"Doctor!" called George, just as the doctor was getting ready to go. "Doctor, come here!" And as the doctor came up to the bedside he whispered in his ear: "I've been there!"

"Been there?" The doctor was puzzled.

"Yes. You remember my asking you if there was a real Fairyland, and you said that if I really wanted to find the way there I must wish as hard as ever I could. Well, I've been there, and oh, I've had such adventures!"

The doctor smiled. "How many miles to Babylon?" he asked.

Now who had said that to George before? Why, it was Sir Tristram! Wasn't it queer that the doctor should say it too?

"Lucky boy!" said the doctor, taking up his hat again. "Lucky boy! We grown-ups have no luck at all. I lose my way every time I try to get there."

"What a pity!" cried George. "I'm sure your house is ready waiting there for you."

"Well, well," replied the doctor. "See that it's kept well aired for me when you're there next time, won't you? I might manage to get there some time, if only by accident."

It took George days and days to tell his story properly. Mother was never tired of hearing it, and asked heaps and heaps of questions; Father said the mere thought of a real live dragon, and especially a wicked magician, made him shiver and shake. He really did shake all over, but perhaps he was only pretending.

Nurse nodded her head very wisely, but though George asked her if she had ever seen a witch, no, she wouldn't answer anything but: "Perhaps I have; perhaps I haven't."

Uncle William was delighted to hear that Alexander could talk, and used to read him bits out of the newspaper and ask him what he thought about the weather, and all kinds of nonsense. He loved the part about Tom Tiddler, and really could imitate his voice so well that George sometimes couldn't tell the difference.

George often talked to Mother about his little house in the wood. One day when they were sitting in the garden he said to her: "You have a house there too, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have a little house," replied Mother. "I have been back to it quite lately. I sometimes forget about it for a time, but I always like to go back to it when I am feeling a little tired or cross. It is so nice to rest there."

"Has Father got a house there?"

"Yes. I once had a tiny peep at it. It was so untidy, just as he likes things to be. Papers and books all over the floor; clothes all unfolded, and a smell of tobacco in every room. He called it a 'heavenly little house.'" And Mother laughed merrily at the thought.

"Did you really see it?"

"Yes, but it was only a peep, you know. He has seen the inside of mine once, and he said he thought he would have to sleep outside in the garden if he ever came to pay me a visit. The house was far too neat and tidy for a big clumsy man."

"Did you ever see the fairies?"

"Long, long ago. You see, once you have been back to your little house they know that you belong to the 'right people,' and only pay you a visit on very special days."

"Oh, then shall I go back to my little house again?" asked George.

"Of course you will, so long as you don't become too grown-up. If you forget your house it will fall into ruins, and by and by you will never be able to find it again."

"Ah, that's what Alexander said!" answered George.

There seemed to be no end to the things George was learning from his adventures. One day he said to Nurse: "The dragon's fortune—the little dragon, I mean—lay right under his nose, didn't it?"

"Yes," replied Nurse, "right under his nose."

"Is mine under my nose?"

"Yes, if you look for it. It's been there all the time." Nurse smiled more like a witch than ever.

George had a long talk with Alexander about this. Although Alexander only seemed to wuff-wuff, George was quite certain that he could understand him now.

"I believe," said George, with his hands deep in his pockets—big pockets he had specially asked for—"I believe Mother's a piece of my fortune, quite a large piece. Father's another and"—here he hugged Alexander—"you're another! Of course, I mustn't forget Nurse," he added.

Mother was very pleased when she heard this, and one day after tea she showed George something she had found in his room on the day he came back from the Once-upon-a-Time Land. They were leaves—golden-brown leaves—from Tom Tiddler's sack! George had almost forgotten about them.

"I have been keeping these safe for you," she said. "You must not lose them. It would never do to throw away your fortune."

"No; I would like to have them always, so that I shall never forget. Now that I know where my fortune is I don't want to go searching for it again, though I did enjoy myself."

Mother took a piece of paper out of the pocket of her apron. "You remember that each of the guests at your party gave you a present. What were they? Do you know still, or have you forgotten?"

George thought for some time. "I can half guess, you know, but I'm not sure."

"Well, they gave you each a gift which you could not buy for gold or jewels. Think of what you would like to be?"

"I should like to be happy," said George at once.

"That's one!"

"Oh, and healthy too. It's horrid to be ill, and I should like to be brave like Sir Tristram and ... oh, I know, full of fun and laughter like the dragon."

"Yes; there are still some more."

"Well, wise like the witch or like Tom Tiddler. Oh"—here he clapped his hands—"unselfish like Alexander! He's always ready to forgive me, even if I hurt him."

Alexander, who was lying at his feet, looked up and wagged his tail.

"And what did the beautiful Queen give you? Her present was the best of all!"

"The best of all?" How sweet she had looked, the dear Queen, almost—no, just the same as Mother!

"Have you guessed, dear?" said Mother, bending down and kissing George.

In a moment he knew. "Of course, how stupid of me! It's the last and the best!" And he hugged her and Alexander in turns.