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be anyone’s favorite while he was standing right there If the girls were getting sos inside Branere as unchangeable as gravity, and that was one
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said through his teeth “I’m sorry I said you were mad”
Victoria inclined her head She would give him no more than that
Anne rocked back and forth on her heels It was tooher future “Couldcould you write our sisters in as well? Charlotte and Emily”
“If it pleases you,” said the child Victoria with a gracious wave of her pen “What would you like to be, Anne? I’ll write you all in this minute”
“This is ridiculous!” Branwell threw up his hands He’d tried once That was all through now “Did you or did you not hear that rooster crowing not ten o? We’re in the middle of a prison break and you want to play with dolls! It’s not England, it’ll never be England, England’s nothing like she says There’s never been a Queen Victoria and there won’t be one Prince Williae, everyone knows that! And Williaot loads of brothers all over the place, so they wouldn’t give it to a girl just for funsies She’s just daydrealand bit’s only a coincidence, Anne! Lock a e the alphabet or no lunch and he’s bound to come up with London and the Thames sooner or later It’s not like e did, not in the least like us She’s bar that Just let her talk to the wall and her pile of junk by herself Let’s get out of here”
But Anne wasn’t listening She was thinking hard about what she and her sisters would like to be In another England A perfect England Eht “Poets,” Anne said finally “And authors The sort that last”
Victoria beaet when I come to that part! There is plenty of room for everyone in Barmytown” She turned her back on Bran “Oh, wait until you see the inventions I have ile person in lass or a pot or a bit of rope and use it to do miracles whenever they wish! I’ve put inall by theical medicine that can heal any infection and tin ponies that run upon theels! I’ve written loco under the ground like iron worreat birds that will carrythat can fly, and Albert does as well So I’ll have flying balloons, too, and rockets you can ride in all the way to heaven! I’vewooden iven them candles that never burn out so they needn’t ever be afraid of the dark and pictures that talk and move so they needn’t ever feel the littlest shiver of boredo you have to build a whole new city just to contain theht in next to Mr Conan Doyle and Mrs Curie and Mr Wilde and Miss Nightingale and Mr Rossetti and Mr Dickens and Mrs Browning and Mr Marconi”
And the child Victoria, her long lace hair spilling down over her slier see the strokes of her pen Sheaves of paper flew out fro up in drifts, nesting in a plush blue and red chair, on a narrow blue and red bed
Bran had a terrible sick feeling in his stoot worse the more Victoria talked No, no, no, said Branwell’s land It’s preposterous It’s co to do with it Veins stood out on his forehead He’d only just accepted that there were torlds in God’s creation: the world that contained England and Yorkshire and Papa and home, and the world that contained Glass Town and Gondal and all the ames If Victoria had her oorld—and she didn’t, she didn’t! Then it couldn’t be his world It had to be a third one And three was right out No, no, no, his mind stubbornly repeated We made Glass Town And it came real because we’re special, somehow Because we made the best stories They’re the made-up ones It’s them Not us They’re the toys It’s not me I’m nobody’s toy I’m no one’s wooden soldier
“She can’t do that,” he told Anne “We can, but she’s a toy Why would you make it so she could do that?”
“Later,” Anne begged
“What do you mean later? What if there isn’t a later?”
“There’s always a later When the ga’s put away and we’ve had our supper That’s when you tell us we’re just silly girls because we didn’t work any murders in, or we tell you you’re a brute Later is when it’s safe to say anything, because the ga cross about it Let’s wait until you can’t get cross with ed Tears filled her eyes “You’re already cross with ht now! And you’ll be more than cross if I say it before later cory You’ll beyou’ll be hurt”
“Don’t be stupid, Anne You can’t hurt rown up already It’s dreadfully tough to hurt a grown-up, you know So just pretend now is later and tell me or I’ll pinch you”