by Gigi Priebe
“That’s a very good question,” Henry heard Warden say. Henry leaned out of the grate just enough to see Warden standing at the exhibit entrance on the far side of the room. Warden was bending over a sad-looking child, explaining, “No, we don’t have to close the house very often, but it’s the queen’s birthday in a few days, and we want to make some repairs and polish it up so the whole thing looks like new.”
“Look at this,” Henry heard the repairman say to Warden.
“What do you have there, Freddy?” Warden straightened up, patted the child on the head, then walked over to inspect the crystal mirror that Freddy held in the palm of his hand.
“What does that look like to you?” asked Freddy, pointing to something on the mirror.
Warden put his glasses on to examine the mirror more closely. “Well, I’ll be,” he said. “It looks like a tiny paw print!”
Henry felt sick. He tried to control the nervous tapping of his paws. He wished Jeremy were there.
“Imagine what a wonderful story that would make,” Warden continued.
“What do you mean?” Freddy scratched his head.
“Imagine if the dollhouse was full of mice,” Warden said. “Can’t you see it now? A family of mice living like royalty, bathing in marble bathtubs, dining off fine china, and sipping wine from the cellars?”
Henry’s legs buckled beneath him.
“That would make a lovely little tale!” Freddy replied. “Get it?” He doubled over laughing. “A lovely tale, like T-A-I-L!” the guard said. Warden chuckled, then quickly collected himself and went to greet another tourist.
Henry watched anxiously for hours as the repairman removed item after item from the dollhouse and Warden comforted disappointed visitors. Finally, Freddy stood up and invited Warden to join him for a short tea break.
This is my chance, Henry thought as the two men walked out of the exhibit room. He sprang out of the heating vent and streaked across the floor. In an instant, he was inside the dollhouse, desperately squeaking Isabel’s name as he ran.
Henry decided to work his way from the top of the house to the bottom. He searched the foyer before running up the grand marble staircase. When he reached the top floor, he darted into the nursery, where his siblings loved to play. Everything was gone! The toy train, the piano, the merry-go-round—even the tins of tea and biscuits! It was clear that Isabel wasn’t there.
Then Henry searched through the king’s and queen’s bedrooms, where nothing had been removed. He lifted each silky bed skirt and peered underneath. He opened closets and drawers, searched behind cupboards and chests, but Isabel was nowhere to be found.
Time was running out. Henry could feel it as his chest heaved with every frightened breath. “Isabel!” he called, darting in and out of the bathrooms. “Isabel! Are you in here?” When there were no more rooms to check, Henry stopped dead in his tracks. A terrible thought occurred to him. He peered out of the dollhouse to search for signs of Isabel in the half-filled bins left on the exhibit room floor far below.
Just then, the doors to the exhibit room opened and Warden was back. Henry slipped out of sight, down through a crack in the floorboards of the dollhouse and back to his lookout behind the heating grate in the wall.
“But we’ve come so far,” Henry heard someone say when he reached the heating vent. He turned and saw that Warden was speaking to an elderly couple.
“I’m terribly sorry,” said Warden apologetically.
“When will it reopen?” asked the elderly man. He held a cane in one hand and his wife’s arm in the other.
“I’m afraid not for a few days,” said Warden, sounding rather sad himself.
“We won’t be here that long,” said the woman. “I’ve waited all my life to come to England and see Windsor Castle and this famous dollhouse.”
“Excuse me, just a moment,” said Warden, taking a step farther out into the corridor and looking left and right. “I think we can make this one exception,” he whispered, removing the rope. “I really shouldn’t be doing this, but it’s almost closing time anyway, so I’ll just shut these doors and no one will see us.”
“Oh, you’re a dear,” trilled the woman as she and her husband shuffled into the room.
“You’ll have to excuse our appearance,” Warden explained. “I’m afraid that some of the rooms have had furniture removed.”
The couple didn’t seem to care, Henry noticed, as they stared wide-eyed at the dollhouse.
“Is it true that everything really works?” asked the man, hunched over his cane.
“Yes, it is,” said Warden with pride. “Even the wine in the wine cellar is real.”
Henry watched impatiently as Warden walked the couple around the dollhouse. They peered into every nook and cranny, oohing and aahing. When they were stopped in front of the library, the woman frowned slightly and stared at something intensely.
“Look!” she said, pointing a shaky finger. “That little book is upside down.”
Henry felt dizzy, then everything suddenly went black.
6
PRECIOUS CARGO
HENRY BLINKED AND RUBBED HIS eyes with his paw. He found himself slumped over with his face pressed against the heating grate, so he pushed himself back into a sitting position. Just as he realized that he must have fainted, he heard the repairman and Warden talking.
“Don’t forget to leave that sign out again for tomorrow,” said the repairman, pointing at the CLOSED FOR REPAIR sign. “We’ll be at this until Her Majesty’s birthday,” he told Warden, who nodded.
He watched intently as the repairman placed the grandfather clock in a bin along with some chests, trunks, and the library desk. Then it hit him. Henry knew where Isabel must have hidden during the game of cat and mouse! Afraid to move now, Henry remained frozen in his spot.
When the bin was full, Freddy announced, “This is the last of it for today. I’m just taking this to the workshop.”
“I’m leaving too,” said Warden. “It’s time for me to go home.”
Freddy and Warden marched off, bin and all, leaving the cars and other random items on the floor outside the dollhouse. Henry’s whiskers quivered and tears welled in his eyes as he stood on his hind legs watching. Every hair on his body told him to follow the bin. She’s got to be in there, Henry said to himself as he leaped out of the hole in the wall and onto the wide-open floor.
Henry hugged the walls, careful to keep out of sight. He hoped that he blended in well enough with the castle’s dark brown floorboards as he dashed out of the exhibit room.
Freddy led him through the room next door. The floor was suddenly carpeted, and brightly lit cabinets towered above Henry on either side, displaying the queen’s collection of fine china. There were no more shadows to hide in.
While he was trying to formulate a plan, it occurred to him that he could just be on a wild-goose chase and that Isabel might still be back in the dollhouse.
Suddenly, Henry didn’t know what to do. But before he had time to decide, something colorful caught his attention at the far end of the hallway. It was Titus!
He had short orange fur, steely gray eyes, sharp-looking white teeth, and claws that clacked on the hard floor. He was nearly as big as the queen’s dogs, but a whole lot meaner.
Luckily, he hadn’t seen Henry—yet! And for the briefest moment, time seemed to stand still . . . until Titus stopped in his tracks, with one front paw suspended in the air. Then he lowered his tail, cocked his ears forward, and charged toward Henry.
This is it, thought Henry. He whipped around and ran the other way.
“Blimey!” Freddy hollered from behind.
There was a sudden chorus of hissing, snarling, and shouting followed by loud crashes and clangs. Henry dared to cast a quick glance over his shoulder. Warden had slipped into an elevator while Freddy had tripped over Titus and was now on his knees, bent over gathering bits and pieces of dollhouse furnishings scattered on the floor. Henry’s heart nearly stopped. Despera
tely, he searched for signs of Isabel as Titus retreated.
When Freddy put the last item in the bin and walked down a staircase toward the basement, Henry didn’t dare to follow.
A cat may have nine lives, but a mouse only has one, and I need help, Henry thought as he hightailed it to find Jeremy.
7
A FRIEND IN NEED
HENRY TRIED TO APPEAR CALM when he ran into Uncle Charlie, who was heading to work at the Crumb and tipping his hat politely at a lady mouse passing by them.
“I think you’ll find Jeremy at the Nibble,” said Uncle Charlie, reading Henry’s mind.
“I should have known,” mumbled Henry as he waved good-bye halfheartedly and turned in the other direction.
“But, Henry,” Uncle Charlie called after him, “your mother’s worried about . . .”
Henry didn’t hear the rest. He ran like the wind to the Nibble.
“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all day,” Jeremy asked, pointing his tail accusingly at Henry when he appeared at the hangout. “Her Royal Headache sputtered something about Isabel gone missing.”
“No time to explain,” Henry panted, beckoning Jeremy to follow with his paw. Without waiting for a response, he turned and took off.
“But where are we going?”
Henry was in too much of a hurry to answer. He could feel Jeremy close behind. Just knowing he was there made Henry feel better . . . braver . . . stronger. He ran on, leading Jeremy through familiar tunnels and finally up a heating duct that led back to the castle hallway.
“Why are we here?” asked Jeremy.
Henry put a paw to his mouth, signaling Jeremy to keep quiet. Peeking out from behind the heating grate in the wall, he sniffed for signs of Titus and any other threat that might be lurking about.
“He took her through here,” Henry whispered. “I lost him, though.”
“Who?” Jeremy asked. “Who took who?” He paused. “Isabel?”
Henry nodded before squeezing through the grate onto the carpeted floor.
Jeremy leaped out, landing beside Henry.
“Isabel?” Jeremy asked again.
“Yes!” shrieked Henry in a panic. “He took her! She’s gone! I’ve lost her!”
Jeremy’s eyes were wide and his mouth hung open, speechless.
“He went that way,” Henry finally managed to say, pointing toward the far end of the room with the queen’s china and the staircase beyond.
“Who’s he? Who went that way?”
“The repairman named Freddy,” Henry shouted, as if Jeremy should already know. “Follow me,” he said, starting for the distant stairs.
But before the two mice reached the staircase, Freddy and a small army of men in green uniforms just like his walked in.
By now, Henry and Jeremy were in plain sight, right in the middle of the massive carpet. Instinctively, they crouched, frozen in place. If they made a dash for it, they would attract attention.
“Stay still,” Henry whispered to Jeremy, wishing the men out of the room.
Henry and Jeremy had no choice but to watch and wait.
“I say we roll it from this end and work our way in that direction,” said one of the men, waving his finger.
“I say we roll it from both ends and meet in the middle,” said another.
Henry stole a quick glance at Jeremy, who looked equally confused. He could only hope that he and Jeremy were camouflaged against the patterns and colors of the rug. There was nowhere to hide.
“Climb the wall!” Jeremy squeaked frantically.
“They’d see us for sure!” Henry squeaked softly. “Let’s lay flat, keep still, and hope they don’t notice!”
Those were Henry’s last words before the rug came rolling toward them from both sides and he and Jeremy were swallowed up.
Henry was sandwiched between layers of carpet. He could hardly breathe. This was a tight spot, even for a mouse. He tried to talk, but he was so flattened, he could barely open his mouth.
“Jeremy?” he managed to mumble. “Are you there?”
“I’m here,” came the muffled sound of Jeremy’s strained voice.
“I think we’re moving,” Henry tried to yell, but it came out as only a stifled squeak. He could hear the muted voices of the men around him and felt himself being jostled with the rug as he and Jeremy were carried off.
8
PICKING UP THE TRAIL
WITH A VIOLENT JOLT AND a loud thud, they came to an abrupt stop. Henry felt sick. He needed air. He needed to get free and back to searching for Isabel!
He listened as well as he could, still trapped within the rolls of the rug. The sound of the men’s voices seemed to be fading, as if they were walking away.
Henry tried to wriggle himself free. He heard the faint sound of Jeremy doing the same.
Progress was slow, but eventually, Henry sniffed fresh air. It took every ounce of strength, but once he reached the outer edges of the rug, he was able to squirm out.
“Help me,” squeaked Jeremy, poking his snout out.
Henry pulled Jeremy’s paw hard. With one big yank, the two tumbled back onto a concrete floor.
“I feel like I’ve been flattened by a rolling pin,” groaned Jeremy as he tried to get up.
“Come on,” Henry coaxed. “We’ve got to get out of here. If we don’t hurry up and find Isabel, it will be too late.”
“We’ll find her,” reassured Jeremy.
Henry wanted to believe his friend, but it was hard.
Henry looked around the windowless room. It was filled with nothing but rugs rolled up into enormous sausage shapes and placed in perfect rows. He and Jeremy zigged and zagged up and down the rows until they found a doorway that led out to a brightly lit corridor.
“I think we’re in the castle basement,” Henry whispered.
Slinking along one wall, Henry and Jeremy cautiously made their way down the corridor. There was a long line of lights running down the middle of the ceiling above and several doorways on either side of them.
“She’s got to be here, Jeremy,” said Henry. “She’s got to be in one of these rooms!” He was getting excited now. “You take that side,” he said, pointing to the doors on the left, “and I’ll look in these.”
“What am I looking for?” asked Jeremy.
“Things from the dollhouse . . . or the big bins that they put things in.”
“Got it,” said Jeremy, dashing into the closest room.
Henry and Jeremy skittered in and out of the rooms, announcing what they’d found each time they completed a search.
“We’re running out of rooms. We’ve got to be getting close,” Henry hollered as he raced through the second-to-last door on his side.
In a flash, Henry dashed back into the hallway and yelled out to Jeremy. Jeremy poked his nose out of the room across the way.
“Quick!” Henry rapped his paw anxiously on the ground. “Over here.”
Henry led Jeremy into the room that must have been the repair shop he had heard Freddy mention earlier. Empty bins were stacked on the floor, but what caught Henry’s attention was the familiar chime of a grandfather clock that he recognized from the dollhouse. It could barely be seen, standing on top of a long worktable in the middle of the room. From down on the floor, Henry couldn’t see anything else on the table, but the clock was enough to suggest that more things from the dollhouse might be up there too.
“Be careful,” Jeremy warned as Henry placed his paws on the table’s cold, steel leg. Henry was weak from wriggling out of the rug, but he managed to hoist himself up to the top without falling. The table was covered with dollhouse furniture, toys from the nursery, and tins from the food pantry—but there was no sign of the suitcases and trunks that Henry suspected Isabel might be hiding in. Droopy whiskered and disappointed, Henry turned to climb back down.
But then he heard it: a sniffle. Faint at first, it got louder as Henry tiptoed through the collection, twitching his ears back and forth
to determine the direction of the sound.
“What do you see?” shouted Jeremy from below.
Henry didn’t answer. He was busy listening for the sound again. It was coming from behind a wardrobe. Henry ran around it and saw a tall stack of brown leather suitcases.
“Isabel, are you there?” he cried.
Nothing.
“Isabel?” he called again, desperate to hear her voice. More silence followed. He stood still and listened. He heard a slight plink. “Izzy, are you there?”
“Henry!” he finally heard his sister squeak. “Get me out! Get me out!” Her voice was coming from a tan leather trunk at the bottom of the stack of suitcases. Henry dashed over to it and saw a gold key lying in front of it. He sniffed around the shiny keyhole.
“I’m here, Izzy. I’m here!” He was so relieved that he started to laugh and cry at the same time.
“Henry, I’ve been so scared,” Isabel cried. “I thought the trunk was locked, so I pushed the key in, but it won’t open.”
“We’ll get you out,” Henry promised. “Jeremy is with me. Hang on. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t leave me!” Isabel blurted.
“I’m not leaving you. I’m just going to tell Jeremy I found you. Don’t worry.”
Henry skittered to the edge of the table and yelled down to Jeremy, who scampered up the table leg quick as a flash. When he got to the top, he fixed his eyes on the suitcases that towered above them. Henry could tell what Jeremy was thinking.
“Let’s give it a try,” said Henry. And with that, they placed their paws up against the bottom suitcase and pushed with all their might. It wouldn’t budge.
“What’s happening?” squeaked Isabel through the keyhole.
Henry let out his breath and wiped a paw across his brow. “It’s not locked, but there are a lot of suitcases stacked on top of the trunk you’re in. That’s why you couldn’t open it. We need to push them off.” Henry tried not to sound worried. He poked Jeremy and threw his paws into the air, unsure what to do next.
