174 THE LAND'S END 



for a walk to the neighbouring hills before dark. 

 Hurrying along the street, which led me away from 

 the front, I felt that I wanted my afternoon cup of 

 tea and thought 1 had better get it before quitting the 

 town. I soon came to a small baker's shop, and 

 going in and pushing open the door at the back dis- 

 covered the baker and his family just sitting down 

 to their tea. The women made room for me at the 

 table and spoke welcoming words, while the baker 

 himself looked at me but said nothing. He was a 

 fine specimen of a Cornishman : old and strongly 

 built, with a large perfectly bald head, on which he 

 wore a skull cap, and a vast cloud of white hair which 

 covered the lower half of his face and flowed over 

 his chest. He had the broad head, high cheek-bones, 

 large mouth and depressed nose, wide at the nostrils, of 

 the pure Cornish Celt, and, most marked feature of all, 

 the shrewd, prying, almost inquisitorial, yet friendly, 

 blue-grey eyes. Those eyes, I observed out of the 

 corners of mine, were furtively watching me, but I 

 did not resent it. By and by I caught sight of 

 another member of the family I had not observed 

 before also watching me very attentively with the 

 most brilliant eyes in the world a fine grey parrot 

 in a big tin cage at the far end of the room. He 

 was standing at the open door of the cage, silent and 

 motionless, with his neck craned out in a listening 

 attitude. I went over to him and gave him some cake, 

 which he accepted in a gentle manner and began 

 eating. Then, coming back to my tea, I began 

 praising the bird, saying that I knew a lot about 



