Then he called to Lina to bring in her
friends.
One after another they came trooping in, till the cellar seemed
full of them. The housemaid regarded them without fear.
'Sir,' she said, 'there is one of the pages I don't take to be a
bad fellow.'
'Then keep him near you,' said Curdie. 'And now can you show me a
way to the king's chamber not through the servants' hall?'
'There is a way through the chamber of the colonel of the guard,'
she answered, 'but he is ill, and in bed.'
'Take me that way,' said Curdie.
By many ups and downs and windings and turnings she brought him to
a dimly lighted room, where lay an elderly man asleep. His arm was
outside the coverlid, and Curdie gave his hand a hurried grasp as
he went by. His heart beat for joy, for he had found a good,
honest, human hand.
'I suppose that is why he is ill,' he said to himself.
It was now close upon suppertime, and when the girl stopped at the
door of the king's chamber, he told her to go and give the servants
one warning more.
'Say the messenger sent you,' he said. 'I will be with you very
soon.'
The king was still asleep. Curdie talked to the princess for a few
minutes, told her not to be frightened whatever noises she heard,
only to keep her door locked till he came, and left her.
CHAPTER 26
The Vengeance
By the time the girl reached the servants' hall they were seated at
supper.
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