THE WOES OF PENELOPE 119 



as quickly as I can ? I have even been interrupted 

 several times ; letters to write, and so on." 



"God knows," said Penelope. "He has made 

 your highness a lady who can do everything, and 

 me he has made a poor, ignorant man." 



Penelope the next day was given dusters to 

 hem. In the evening he said : 



"Here are fourteen still to do. I will take 

 them home and finish them there ; then I can also 

 attend to the rebuilding of my cow-shed, which has 

 fallen down in these heavy rains." In this way he 

 gets a day off, and so do I. He is a man of wealth, 

 and possesses a milch cow, and his wages are 

 double those of some of the servants ; and yet he 

 is always trying to get money in advance. He 

 assures me on the 1st of the month that his 

 interior, expressed with biblical plainness, is very 

 empty, and that as I am a " Protector of the Poor," 

 so I will at once give him something on account. 



"Penelope," I say, "you know it is the custom 

 of this house to pay on the 5th, so why do you ask ? 

 All the servants will get paid together." 



Another time he will weep, and say his daughter- 

 in-law has just died, and he wants to bury her ; so 



