CHESTNUTS BY THE WAY 



arm round his burly neck and looked down at 

 the indifferent cub very much as if she had come 

 to her inalienable rights. 



&quot; I ll tell you what we ll do. You shall sit on 

 the sheltered side of that trunk, on one of those 

 roots, and we ll fill your pail. How does that 

 strike your ladyship ? &quot; 



I suppose it struck her ladyship as the only 

 proper course that should have been followed 

 from the first. The Doctor carried her across 

 the carpeted space made by the great canopy of 

 the tree, the side lights hitting her with successive 

 shafts as she passed, and the shadows dappling 

 her with a kind of bo-peep. He set her high up 

 on a root, pulled the prickles out of her broken 

 slipper, put the latchet round her ankle, and 

 placed the pail in her lap. I had already picked 

 up a handful of the nuts, and I walked up and 

 turned them obediently into the pail, where they 

 made a loud tinkle. The Doctor had to put on 

 his glasses to do his share. The boy looked at 

 him with momentary surprise, and then concen 

 trated all his contempt into one brief remark : 

 &quot;Well, I ll be dod gormed ! &quot; But the young 

 scamp managed to keep just ahead of the Doctor 

 and snatch the best prizes, until he got a shove 

 from a lusty foot that rolled him over, at which 

 there came a little piccolo burst of laughter from 

 the tree-trunk. The acorn of a woman was 

 already the little lady of the joust, for whose 

 smiles we were digging into the dead leaves with 

 our gloves on. 



211 



