EPISODE OF THE CONTENTED TAILOR 



speaking. " No cause for you to do that, I expect, 



sir." 



' Well, you know what you want, and you've got it." 



We had reached the crest of the hill now after a 

 longish climb. It was a hot day and I proposed a rest. 

 Besides, it was one o'clock and I was hungry. 



I had four hard boiled eggs, and he had bread and 

 cheese we divided our goods evenly, and ate com- 

 fortably under a hedge in a field. 



" I've often sat on my bench," he said, " and looked 

 out at the sun in the dusty street and wondered if I 

 should ever be able to sit out in it on the grass and 

 have nothing to do. We used to go for a day in the 

 country, I and my sister, whenever I could spare the 

 money, and it was a holiday. You wouldn't believe 

 what the sight of green fields and trees meant to me 

 and my sister : you see the hedgerows were the only 

 garden we could afford, and we could ill-afford that. 

 My sister used to talk about the Roses she'd have, 

 and the Carnations, and the Sunflowers and Asters, 

 when our ship came home. It came home think of 

 that." He stretched his limbs luxuriously. " And 

 here we are with everything, and more." 



"And more ?"Iasked. 



" Well, you see, it is more, somehow. I'm ' me ' now 

 do you follow the idea ? I never knew what it was 

 to be on my own : just ' me.' I can lie abed now as 

 long as I want to, I can wear what I like, do what I 

 like. And I've a garden of my own." 



" But you don't stop there," I said. 



" Well," he said, " I wonder if you'd know what I 

 meant if I said that a garden and sitting about is a 

 bit too much for me for the present. I want to walk 

 and walk in the open air, and see things, and stretch 

 my legs a bit to get rid of twenty odd years of the bench. 



29 



