"Why, 'tis a tidy sum! But even eighteen pound can't last for ever,
an' when 'tis all gone--how then?"

"I don't know."

"Hum!" quoth the Tinker again and sat rubbing his chin and staring
into the fire, while I, lost in my new humility, wondered if my
painting was not as futile as my poetry.

"Can ye work?" enquired my companion suddenly.

"I think so!"

"What at?"

"I don't know!"

"Hum! Any trade or profession?"

"None!"

"Ha! too well eddicated, I suppose. Well, 'tis a queer kettle o' fish,
but so's life, yet, though heaviness endure for a night, j'y cometh in
the morning, and mind, I'm your friend if you're so minded. And now,
what I says is--let's to sleep, for I must be early abroad." Here he
reached into the little tent and presently brought thence two
blankets, one of which he proffered me, but the night being very hot
and oppressive, I declined it and presently we were lying side by
side, staring up at the stars. But suddenly upon the stillness, from
somewhere amid the surrounding boskages that shut us in, came the