The fairy mermaid was even now at work trying to save them, and in a few minutes Trot was astonished and delighted to see the queen rise from her couch.

She could not go far from it at first, but the ice was melting rapidly all around her so that gradually Aquareine approached the place where the child lay.

Trot could hear the mermaid's voice sounding through the ice as if from afar off, but it grew more distinct until she could make out that the queen was saying, "Courage, friends! Do not despair, for soon you will be free." Before very long the ice between Trot and the queen had melted away entirely, and with a cry of joy the little girl flopped her pink tail and swam to the side of her deliverer.
"Are you very cold ?" asked Aquareine.
"N-not v-v-very!" replied Trot, but her teeth chattered and she was still shivering.
"The water will be warm in a few minutes," said the Queen.

"But now I must melt the rest of the ice and liberate Clia." This she did in an astonishingly brief time, and the pretty princess, being herself a fairy, had not been at all affected by the cold surrounding her.
They now swam to the door of Cap'n Bill's room and found the Peony Chamber a solid block of ice.

The queen worked her magic power as hard as she could, and the ice flowed and melted quickly before her fairy wand.