Just as they thought they saw a gleam behind them, the thread brought them to a very narrow opening, through which Irene crept easily, and Curdie with difficulty.
'Now,'said Curdie; 'I think we shall be safe.' 'Of course we shall,' returned Irene.

'Why do you think so ?'asked Curdie.
'Because my grandmother is taking care of us.' 'That's all nonsense,' said Curdie.

'I don't know what you mean.' 'Then if you don't know what I mean, what right have you to call it nonsense ?' asked the princess, a little offended.
'I beg your pardon, Irene,' said Curdie; 'I did not mean to vex you.' 'Of course not,' returned the princess.

'But why do you think we shall be safe ?' 'Because the king and queen are far too stout to get through that hole.' 'There might be ways round,' said the princess.
'To be sure there might: we are not out of it yet,' acknowledged Curdie.
'But what do you mean by the king and queen ?' asked the princess.

'I should never call such creatures as those a king and a queen.' 'Their own people do, though,' answered Curdie.
The princess asked more questions, and Curdie, as they walked leisurely along, gave her a full account, not only of the character and habits of the goblins, so far as he knew them, but of his own adventures with them, beginning from the very night after that in which he had met her and Lootie upon the mountain.