' AMARYLLIS AT THE FAIR ' 269 



' " He was the only one of all the family," continued 

 her father, " who could make money ; all the rest could 

 do nothing but spend it. For ten generations he was 

 the only money-maker and saver, and yet he was as free 

 and liberal as possible. Very curious, wasn't it ? — only 

 one in ten generations — difficult to understand why none 

 of the others — why " He paused, thinking.'* 



Or she leans by the wall her father built, up above 

 the road, and sees the fair-goers, herself watching with 

 critical reverie and a vague, unconscious eye for men. 

 Or she is with her grandfather, over ninety years old : 



' He took Amaryllis by the arm as she stood on the step 

 and pulled her into the shop, asked her if her father were 

 coming, then walked her down by the oven-door, and 

 made her stand up by a silver-mounted peel, to see how 

 tall she was. The peel is the long wooden rod, broad at 

 one end, with which loaves are placed in the baker's oven. 

 Father Iden being proud of his trade, in his old age had 

 his favourite peel ornamented with silver. 



' " Too fast — too fast," he said, shaking his head, and 

 coughing ; " you grow too fast ; there's the notch I cut 

 last year, and now you're two inches taUer." He lowered 

 the peel, and showed her where his thumb was — quite 

 two inches higher than the last year's mark. 



' " I want to be tall," said Amaryllis. 



' " I daresay — I daresay," said the old man, in the 

 hasty manner of feeble age, as he cut another notch to 

 record her height. The handle of the peel was notched 

 aU round, where he had measured his grandchildren ; 

 there were so many marks it was not easy to see how he 

 distinguished them. 



* " Is your father coming ?" he asked, when he had 

 finished with the knife. 



' " I don't know." This was Jesuitically true — she did 

 not know — she could not be certain ; but in her heart she 

 was sure he would not come. But she did not want to 

 hear any hard words said about him. . . .' f 



* Amaryllis at the Fair. \ Ibid. 



