ISBN O 7232 0594 9 (cloth) ISBN O-7232-6227-6 (paper)

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_MY DEAR FREDA,_

_Because you are fond of fairy-tales, and have been ill, I have
made you a story all for yourself--a new one that nobody has
read before._

_And the queerest thing about it is--that I heard it in
Gloucestershire, and that it is true--at least about the tailor,
the waistcoat, and the_

_"No more twist!"_

_Christmas, 1901_

[Illustration]




THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER


In the time of swords and periwigs and full-skirted coats with flowered
lappets--when gentlemen wore ruffles, and gold-laced waistcoats of
paduasoy and taffeta--there lived a tailor in Gloucester.