“what’s that whizzing, nurse?” asked peggy, as she was picking a bunch of double snowdrops in the garden the next afternoon.
“a motor, i expect,” said nurse, who was talking to the gardener—and she ran to peep down the drive through the bushes. “callers, i’ll be bound. yes, here it comes, a big red car. there’s a fat lady in behind, and a girl chauffeur driving it.”
“let’s see,” said peggy, pressing into the bushes too.
nurse was not quite like she had been the evening before, because, of course, peggy’s wishes never lasted on to the next day, but still she wasn’t nearly as cross as usual, and she had been playing hide-and-seek with peggy quite half the afternoon, until the gardener came up to talk.
“now they’ve heard your mother’s not here, and are going away again,” nurse went on. “there, look! they’ve stuck at the difficult turn, and the engine’s stopped! my, doesn’t that girl look cross? get back, miss peggy, they’ll see us! now you can hide once more if you like before tea. i’ll just finish giving john the message about the vegetables.”
“i wish i knew how to drive a motor,” thought peggy longingly, as she trotted off to hide behind some laurels. “i’d go like the wind, and wouldn’t stop at any corners——why—what’s happened?”
for she was driving the big red car as fast as lightning down the drive!
[36]“you never noticed you had the ring on!” chuckled the giant. “well turned! never mind the gate-post.”
he was sitting at the back, but with his legs sticking right out in front beyond the bonnet; and his elbows kept knocking great pieces out of the hedges as they whizzed along.
“what’s—what’s happened to the fat lady and the chauffeur?” gasped peggy, clutching the steering-wheel for dear life, her cheeks scarlet, her hair streaming out behind her.
“i put them out in the drive,” said the giant. “i expect they’ll follow us if they want to.”
“weren’t they angry?” asked peggy, bumping over a sheep because she didn’t know how to stop the car. “oh dear, did i hurt him?”
“he’s all right, he’s up again,” said the giant, turning round. “the ring won’t let you hurt anything or anybody however much you knock into them. angry? oh, i really hadn’t time to stop and see. it’s all forgotten afterwards, you see. look out for this corner. oh well, never mind, we may as well be out of the road as in it!” for the car, not having been turned quick enough, had neatly leapt the hedge, and was now speeding across a ploughed field.
“let her out, let her out!” said the giant. “you said you wanted to go fast, i thought. go on, let her out!”
peggy didn’t know exactly what he meant, or what to do, but she whispered a wish that they might go still quicker, and the car rose in the air and raced along just a little above the level of the hedges.
“i think this is lovelier than anything we’ve done at all!” she shouted back to the giant. “oh, look! we’re coming to a town, i do believe! i wish i could drive through it just as though i was a real chauffeur. it would be so grand!”
[37]“steady, steady! wishes don’t grow on blackberry bushes,” cried the giant warningly, but at once the car slowed down, and dropped into the high road, and peggy found herself dressed exactly like the girl she had seen, and driving slowly along at the rate of about fifteen miles an hour. at first she tried to steer the car herself, but when she found that it guided itself when left alone, and that the horn sounded and the gear changed much better by themselves, she leant back and amused herself by staring at the people, and then at the shops, as they reached the principal streets of the town.
suddenly she noticed that all the people they passed were beginning to behave in the most extraordinary manner, some of them racing away down side streets, screaming, others beginning to chase the car and shout at the top of their voices. once they came on a line of policemen all standing in a row across the road with notebooks in their hands, but the car made very short work of them, scattering them in all directions, and though peggy turned round and saw them picking themselves up at once and evidently not hurt in the very least, such a roar went up from the crowds in the streets that she asked the giant in great perplexity why they were all so angry. hadn’t they ever seen a lady chauffeur before?
“i expect it’s partly because of me,” said the giant comfortably. “i knocked a piece right off the general post office just now with my elbow. you’d better rise again, i think.”
peggy wished—but to her horror nothing happened, except that the car began to slow down, and crowds and crowds of people from all directions at once pressed around it, shouting and shaking their fists at the giant.
“goodness me!” said the giant, who had no sooner[38] pushed away one lot than another came up. “the magic’s gone wrong again! turn the ring quickly!”
peggy did so, and the car rose with an awful jerk into the air and began to twist in and out amongst the chimney pots in an aimless sort of way till the giant nearly toppled out, and peggy felt quite giddy. at last she seized the wheel and tried to steer, and really felt they were making a little headway, when suddenly, without any warning, the car made a dart upwards, and then dropped on to the top of an ornamental steeple crowning the new town hall, where it stuck, the wheels turning madly.
“now we are in a fix!” said the giant uneasily. “i thought i’d remembered all about the wishing by now, but i’ve made a hash of it this time, and no mistake. you’d better wish we were safely home again. i can always manage that.”
“no, thank you!” said peggy. “i did that yesterday before i’d used up all my wishes. i’m not going to do it again. i don’t mind it up here at all; i think it’s rather fun!”
“that’s not much fun!” said the giant, looking down out of the car.
peggy looked too—and could not help giving a little jump. packed in the square below them was the first crowd she had ever seen, and it was really rather frightening. everybody was looking up and shouting and waving, and there was no doubt at all that they were very angry indeed. still, in spite of the muddles the giant so often made, peggy always felt perfectly safe with him.
“i can’t hear what they say,” she said, “all talking at once like that! do call down and ask them to speak clearer. they’ll hear you.”
[39]but the giant was shaking with fright, and trying to hide himself under the seat, which, considering he was many sizes too big for the car, looked a hopeless task.
“better leave them alone,” he muttered. “they’ll only get angrier still if we answer them.”
at that moment peggy noticed a little fat man in a long red gown making his way through the crowd. behind him came two men carrying a long ladder. this they put against the town hall, and the little fat man climbed to the top, and then off on to the roof just below the car. he was purple in the face with breathlessness and rage.
