Here goes!
One! Two!"
There was a strong smell of lilies of the valley in the room.
"Three, four, five, six...." someone was counting in a rapid whisper. That's all," the voice said when it had counted up to ten.
"He'll sleep like a log for three days.
And he'll never know what happened to his doll."
"It'll be all over by the time he wakes up."
"If we didn't do it, he'd have started crying and stamping his feet. Then the Three Fat Men would have pardoned the girl and let her live."
The three strangers disappeared.
The trembling tutor crawled out of the armchair.
He lit the small night lamp and by the flickering orange flame tiptoed to the bed.
Tutti the Heir lay there in silk and lace, looking very important.
His small tousled head rested on huge pillows.
The tutor bent over the bed, holding the lamp close to the boy's pale face.
A drop of liquid glistened in his ear like a pearl in an oyster shell.
It seemed both golden and green at the same time.
The tutor touched the drop.
It disappeared in an instant, but his hand and arm became as cold as ice.
The boy seemed dead to the world.
Several hours later the wonderful morning we already told you about dawned.
We know what happened to One-Two-Three the dancing master that morning, but it is much more interesting to find out what happened to Suok, whom we left in such a terrible fix.
At first, they decided to throw her in a dungeon.
"No, that's too much trouble," the State Councillor said. "We'd better sentence her quickly to death."
"There's certainly no sense letting her off too easily," the Three Fat Men agreed.
Don't forget that the Three Fat Men had not got over the shock of running away from the panther.
They needed a long rest.
This is what they said:
"We'll have a snooze first.
And then we'll hold court in the morning."
And they went off to their bedrooms.
The State Councillor never doubted that the doll-girl would be sentenced to death by the court. He ordered his men to drug Tutti the Heir. He wanted him to sleep through it all, so that his tears would not make the Three Fat Men change their terrible sentence.
The three men with lanterns had carried out the State Councillor's orders.
Tutti the Heir was sound asleep.
Suok was in the Guard Room.
She was surrounded by Guards.
If a stranger happened to come in, he would certainly have wondered what a sad, pretty little girl in a beautiful pink dress was doing among all those Guards.
She looked so out of place among the saddles, rifles and beer mugs.
The Guards were playing cards. Horrible blue smoke rose from their pipes. They kept bickering and shouting at each other.
These Guards were still loyal to the Three Fat Men.
They shook their huge fists at Suok, they stamped their feet and made terrible faces at her.
Suok paid no attention to them.
To get even, she stuck out her tongue and sat facing the lot of them with her tongue out for nearly an hour.
She was quite comfortable sitting there on top of a barrel.
Her dress was getting crumpled, but it had lost its beauty anyway, for it had been torn by branches, scorched by torches and splattered with syrup.
Suok was not worried.
Girls her age are not afraid of real danger.
They won't be frightened by a pistol sticking into their ribs, but they'll probably be afraid to go into a dark room by themselves.
This is what Suok was thinking:
"Prospero the Gunsmith has escaped.
Now he and Tibul will lead the people to the Palace.