He tried. He went back and looked at the great coarse cables of the
carpet. He could see no end to the cables, no beginning to his task. And
Lucy just went on sitting there like a white hollyhock. And time went
on, and presently became, rather urgently, dinner-time.

So he went back to Lucy and said:

'All right, you can show me how to do it, if you like.'

But Lucy replied:

'Not much! If you want me to help you with _this_, you'll have to
promise to let me help in all the other things. And you'll have to _ask_
me to help--ask me politely too.'

'I shan't then,' said Philip. But in the end he had to--politely also.

'With pleasure,' said Lucy, the moment he asked her, and he could see
she had been making up what she should answer, while he was making up
his mind to ask. 'I shall be delighted to help you in this and all the
other tasks. Say yes.'

'Yes,' said Philip, who was very hungry.

'"In this and all the other tasks" say.'

'In this and all the other tasks,' he said. 'Go on. How can we do it?'

'It's _crochet_,' Lucy giggled. 'It's a little crochet mat I'd made of
red wool; and I put it in the hall that night. You've just got to find
the end and pull, and it all comes undone. You just want to find the end
and pull.'

'It's too heavy for us to pull.'

'Well,' said Lucy, who had certainly had time to think everything out,
'you get one of those twisty round things they pull boats out of the sea
with, and I'll find the end while you're getting it.'

She ran up the steps and Philip looked round the buildings on the other
three sides of the square, to see if any one of them looked like a
capstan shop, for he understood, as of course you also have done, that a
capstan was what Lucy meant.

On a building almost opposite he read, 'Naval Necessaries Supply
Company,' and he ran across to it.

'Rather,' said the secretary of the company, a plump sailor-doll, when
Philip had explained his needs. 'I'll send a dozen men over at once.
Only too proud to help, Sir Philip. The navy is always keen on helping
valour and beauty.'

'I want to be brave,' said Philip, 'but I'd rather not be beautiful.'

'Of course not,' said the secretary; and added surprisingly, 'I meant
the Lady Lucy.'

'Oh!' said Philip.

So twelve bluejackets and a capstan outside the Hall of Public
Amusements were soon the centre of a cheering crowd. Lucy had found the
end of the rope, and two sailors dragged it out and attached it to the
cap