What was that doll they brought him?"
She tiptoed to the workshop door and peeped through the heart-shaped keyhole.
Alas!
The key was in the lock.
She couldn't see a thing. At that moment the door opened and Doctor Caspar came out.
He was so upset he didn't even scold Auntie Ganimed for peeping. He didn't have to.
She was terribly embarrassed as it was.
"Auntie Ganimed, I'm leaving now.
I have to go out.
Please call a cab."
He was silent and then rubbed his forehead.
"I'm going to the Palace of the Three Fat Men.
It is quite likely I won't return."
Auntie Ganimed was shocked.
"You're going to the Palace of the Three Fat Men?"
"Yes.
Things look pretty bad.
They brought me the doll of Tutti the Heir.
It's the best doll in the whole world.
But the spring that made it work is broken.
The State Council of the Three Fat Men ordered me to repair it by tomorrow morning.
If I don't, a terrible fate awaits me."
Auntie Ganimed was ready to cry.
"And I can't fix this poor doll.
I took it apart, I discovered what made it work. I could have fixed it.
But... it's such a small thing!
I can't because of a trifle.
There's a tiny cogwheel inside and it's cracked.
It's no good any more.
I'll have to make a new one.
I have the metal for it, it's something like silver.
But before I can start making the wheel, I have to soak the metal in a solution of vitriol for at least two days.
Two days, do you understand?
And the doll must be ready by tomorrow morning!"
"Can't you put in another kind of wheel?" Auntie Ganimed suggested timidly.
The doctor waved his hand sadly.
"I've tried everything. Nothing works."
Five minutes later a covered cab rolled up to the doctor's house.
He was going to the Palace of the Three Fat Men.
"I'll tell them the doll can't be fixed by tomorrow morning.
They can arrest me if they want to."
Auntie Ganimed bit the edge of her apron and shook her head until finally she was afraid it might fall off.
Doctor Caspar sat the doll down on the seat beside him and was off.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE STRANGE DOLL IS LOST
The wind howled in Doctor Caspar's ears.
The tune was horrid, even worse than the screeching of a knife on a grinder's wheel.
The doctor pulled his cape collar up over his ears and turned his back to the wind.
Then the wind began to play with the stars.
It put them out, rolled them about and hid them behind the black triangles of the rooftops.