has made his own are always spick and span, just as firemen who have
to go into great furnaces have to keep all their gear highly polished.
I sat down at it, and said again, still gently--

'It is, indeed, a fine country this of yours. Could you give me a
little red wine?'

Then the ox-faced man who had his back turned to me, and was the worst
of the lot, said sulkily, not to me, but to the woman--

'He wants wine.'

The woman as sulkily said to me, not looking me in the eyes--

'How much will you pay?'

I said, 'Bring the wine. Set it here. See me drink it. Charge me your
due.'

I found that this brutal way of speaking was just what was needed for
the kine and cattle of this pen. She skipped off to a cupboard, and
set wine before me, and a glass. I drank quite quietly till I had had
enough, and asked what there was to pay. She said 'Threepence,' and I
said 'Too much,' as I paid it. At this the ox-faced man grunted and
frowned, and I was afraid; but hiding my fear I walked out boldly and
slowly, and made a noise with my stick upon the floor of the hall
without. Neither did I bid them farewell. But I made a sign at the
house as I left it. Whether it suffered from this as did the house at
Dorchester which the man in the boat caused to wither in one night, is
more than I can tell.