182 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



and cheese will do very well — I'm very hungry. 

 But there was no bread and cheese to spare, she 

 said. Then, I said, I must make a drink of milk 

 do. There was no milk, said she, or so little that 

 if she gave me any they would be short. Then, I 

 said, getting cross, perhaps you will be so good as 

 to give me a drink of water. She revolved this last 

 request in her dull brain for a minute or so, then 

 saying that she could do that, slowly went away to 

 the kitchen to get the water. 



During our colloquy another person, a well-dressed 

 elderly woman, the wife of the man in broadcloth 

 and slippers, had come into the hall and listened. She 

 now dived into her rooms, and in a very few moments 

 returned with as much bread and cheese as a hungry 

 man could eat on a plate; then taking the glass 

 of water from the landlady's hand, she insisted on 

 carrying the plate and the glass out to the lawn, 

 where I could rest in the shade while eating. The 

 other woman had meanwhile stared in an uncompre- 

 hending way, the dull surprise in her look gradually 

 changing to something resembling admiration. What 

 a strange thing it was that her lady lodger had 

 popped into the hall, listened Hke a robin to half 

 a dozen words, and understood the whole matter 

 in a flash ; and that though it was no concern of 

 hers, and she had been asked for nothing, and had 

 her own anxieties and her ailing husband to attend 

 to, she had in an instant supplied my wants. And 



