A Winters Tale 221 



That did not hinder him from being greatly liked 

 and respected in Blackford. The worst that could be 

 said about him was, that he was rather hard, and, as a 

 matter of fact, there was little softness in his nature, 

 though he never failed to greet his customers with a 

 smile and jest ; and if the smile was a little mechanical 

 and the jest the worse for wear, it mattered little to 

 quiet country folk who were not ashamed to laugh at 

 the twentieth repetition of a witticism. And it was 

 everywhere agreed that he kept a model public-house, 

 never, for instance, allowing any fighting to go on in a 

 conspicuous place, but forcing the combatants to have 

 it out, if they really meant business, in a secluded 

 back-yard where they could black each other's eyes 

 with the most perfect safety and comfort. Any man 

 might go to the Red Lion with the assurance that he 

 would not be made a fool of. Adam knew the 

 drinking capacity of every full-grown male in the 

 neighbourhood of Blackford, and would let none 

 transgress his limit, or, if an accident did happen, 

 managed everything in the quietest possible way. 

 And besides, the villagers all knew him to be, in their 

 own language, as game as a bantam. At times Adam 

 might, in bargain-making, show himself not over- 

 scrupulously above-board, and, generally speaking, 

 what he could get he took, but he steered clear of 

 paltry meannesses, and he was known to be stubbornly 

 faithful to all his friends ; a man, on the whole, with a 

 conscience not too troublesome, but far from dead. 



