Twiffle and Tom went over their plan again and again. Nevertheless, the day seemed to Tom one of the longest he had ever spent. The long hours of waiting were broken only three times--when Lady Cue brought in Tom's meals. The food was quite good, but a bit mixed up. For breakfast the befuddled Lady brought Tom a large slice of roast beef with corn flakes and apple pie. Lunch consisted of fried eggs, mashed potatoes, and doughnuts; while dinner was made up of broiled apricots, strawberry shortcake, and graham crackers. But Tom was hungry and didn't mind the strange assortment of foods too much. He managed to eat everything even though Lady Cue brought him six spoons with each meal and no knives or forks. When Lady Cue appeared with the evening meal, Tom was a bit worried because they had not been asked to dine with the Lords and Ladies in the Royal Dining Room. Could this mean they would not be invited to the play? If so, then their plan of rescue would be ruined. Twiffle was not worried. He was sure they would be asked to share the King and Queen's Royal Box, if only as a form of punishment, since they would be compelled to see Twink as one of the puppets on the stage. Twiffle proved to be right. Early in the evening Lady Cue appeared in the doorway and led them again to the theater. King Ticket and Queen Curtain were already settled in the Royal Box when Tom and Twiffle arrived. Except to give them an icy stare, the monarchs paid no attention to their guests. Twiffle winked at Tom, but both of them were quaking lest Twiffle's plan might not work. If it did not work, they would be worse off than ever. If possible the play--it was the same one--was even worse than on the previous night. The players went through their parts in a dream-like fashion, chanting their lines woodenly. Scenery fell apart, the curtain came down at the wrong moments and everything possible went wrong. But King Ticket and Queen Curtain were enchanted. Along with the Lords and Ladies they applauded vociferously and reacted to the ridiculous performance with even more enthusiasm than they had displayed the night before. This night, Tom had no trouble in keeping awake. He squirmed about in his seat with impatience, waiting until Twink and the Shaggy Man would appear. This didn't happen until the play was well into the fourth and last act. As on the night before, the Shaggy Man wandered blindly onto the stage, speaking the same lines in an almost indistinguishable voice. A moment later Tom tensed with excitement. A new character had been added. It was Twink. Her eyes stared as she moved mechanically across the stage, murmuring the words of her lines. Tom took a deep breath and glanced at Twiffle. The time had come to act. Twiffle nodded.