"Yes; but am I to wish first to be in the palace in the great saloon?" "Certainly," replied the cuckoo. "That is the entrance to Mandarin Land, and you said you would like to see through it. So--you're surely ready now?" "A thought has just struck me," said Griselda. "How will you know what o'clock it is, so as to come back in time to tell the next hour? My aunts will get into such a fright if you go wrong again! Are you sure we shall have time to go to the mandarins' country to-night?" "Time!" repeated the cuckoo; "what is time? Ah, Griselda, you have a _very_ great deal to learn! What do you mean by time?" "I don't know," replied Griselda, feeling rather snubbed. "Being slow or quick--I suppose that's what I mean." "And what is slow, and what is quick?" said the cuckoo. "_All_ a matter of fancy! If everything that's been done since the world was made till now, was done over again in five minutes, you'd never know the difference." [Illustration: MANDARINS NODDING.] "Oh, cuckoo, I wish you wouldn't!" cried poor Griselda; "you're worse than sums, you do so puzzle me. It's like what you said about nothing being big or little, only it's worse. Where would all the days and hours be if there was nothing but minutes? Oh, cuckoo, you said you'd amuse me, and you do nothing but puzzle me." "It was your own fault. You wouldn't get ready," said the cuckoo. "_Now_, here goes! Flap and wish." Griselda flapped and wished. She felt a sort of rustle in the air, that was all--then she found herself standing with the cuckoo in front of the Chinese cabinet, the door of which stood open, while the mandarins on each side, nodding politely, seemed to invite them to enter. Griselda hesitated. "Go on," said the cuckoo, patronizingly; "ladies first." Griselda went on. To her surprise, inside the cabinet it was quite light, though where the light came from that illuminated all the queer corners and recesses and streamed out to the front, where stood the mandarins, she could not discover. The "palace" was not quite as interesting as she had expected. There were lots of little rooms in it opening on to balconies commanding, no doubt, a splendid view of the great saloon; there were ever so many little staircases leading to more little rooms and balconies; but it all seemed empty and deserted. "I don't care for it," said Griselda, stopping short at last; "it's all the same, and there's nothing to see. I thought my aunts kept ever so many beautiful things in here, and there's nothing." "Come along, then," said the cuckoo. "I didn't expect you'd care for the palace, as you called it, much. Let us go out the other way."