CO ATE FARM. 25 



" From the merest thin slit, as it were, 

 between his eyelids, Iden watched the mice 

 feed and run about his knees till, having 

 eaten every crumb, they descended his leg to 

 the floor." 



This portrait is not true in all its details. 

 For instance, the elder Jefferies had small 

 and shapely hands and feet not the massive 

 hands described in " Amaryllis." 



Another slighter portrait of his father is 

 found in " After London." It is that of the 

 Baron : 



" As he pointed to the tree above, the mus- 

 cles, as the limb moved, displayed themselves 

 in knots, at which the courtier himself could 

 not refrain from, glancing. Those mighty 

 arms, had they clasped him about the waist, 

 could have crushed his bending ribs. The 

 heaviest blow that he could have struck upon 

 that broad chest would have produced no 

 more effect than a hollow sound ; it would not 

 even have shaken that powerful frame. 



"He felt the steel blue eyes, bright as the 

 sky of midsummer, glance into his very mind. 



