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 ? " I asked. 



" 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 



