'No,no,no,no,no!' exclaimed Queen Phoebe,'how many more times? His little Kingshipfulness won't tolerate a silver bauble next to red bauble!'
'Sorry!' said Norman.
'Honestly,' continued Queen Phoebe,'sometimes One thinks it would have been quicker to have shoved a small child up a ladder!. Only they h'aint never any good with the bit at the top, which is why 'is Regalness insists on you and your trunk!'
And at that point Norman muttered something about elephants and trunks, but everybody ignored him.
'You know,' said Captain Bill who was standing a little way off, 'I think I may be losing the will to live!'
'Oh! That's not nice!' replied Norma.
'But,' said Captain Bill,'I was bounced down a cliff for this, bounced down a cliff, disguised as an elephant, embroiled in a cake theft and then dangled back over the same cliff by the thread of a knitted compass...and all so that they get to have their baubles in the right place!'
'It is a very nice tree though,' said Norma.
'It could do with more tinsel!' added Bertha.
'Mmmm!' said Captain Bill.
And so for a while Captain Bill and Norma and Bertha and Annie and Horace stood and watched the tree being decorated.
'Come on then,' said Captain Bill at last,'let's go home!'
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