that.'

"'How well you talk'! said the Miller's Wife, pouring herself out a
large glass of warm ale; 'really I feel quite drowsy. It is just
like being in church.'

"'Lots of people act well,' answered the Miller; 'but very few
people talk well, which shows that talking is much the more
difficult thing of the two, and much the finer thing also'; and he
looked sternly across the table at his little son, who felt so
ashamed of himself that he hung his head down, and grew quite
scarlet, and began to cry into his tea. However, he was so young
that you must excuse him."

"Is that the end of the story?" asked the Water-rat.

"Certainly not," answered the Linnet, "that is the beginning."

"Then you are quite behind the age," said the Water-rat. "Every
good story-teller nowadays starts with the end, and then goes on to
the beginning, and concludes with the middle. That is the new
method. I heard all about it the other day from a critic who was
walking round the pond with a young man. He spoke of the matter at
great length, and I am sure he must have been right, for he had
blue spectacles and a bald head, and whenever the young man made
any remark, he always answered 'Pooh!' But pray go on with your
story. I like the Miller immensely. I have all kinds of beautiful
sentiments myself, so there is a great sympathy between us."

"Well," said the Linnet, hopping now on one leg and now on the