and
yellow knee-breeches carried a three-cornered hat under his arm, and
he also crossed a stream which seemed the exact counterpart of the
other one and whose perspective was similarly complicated. There were
three pictures on each wall--nine in all; three of these were
pictures of ships, three were pictures of battles: two portrayed
saintly but emaciated personages sitting in peculiarly disheartening
wildernesses (each wilderness contained one cactus plant and a camel).
One of these personages stared fixedly at a skull, the other personage
looked with intense firmness away from a lady of scant charms in a
white and all too insufficient robe: above the robe a segment of the
lady's bosom was hinted at bashfully--it was probably this the
personage looked firmly away from. The remaining picture showed a
little girl seated in a big armchair and reading with profound culture
the most massive of bibles: she had her grandmother's mutch cap and
spectacles on, and looked very sweet and solemn; a doll sat bolt
upright beside her, and on the floor a kitten hunted a ball of wool
with great earnestness.

All these things Mrs. Makebelieve discussed to her daughter, as also
of the carpet which might have been woven in Turkey or elsewhere,
the sideboard that possibly was not mahogany, and the chairs and
occasional tables whose legs had attained to rickets through
convulsions; the curtains of cream-colored lace which were reinforced
by rep hangings and guarded shutters from Venice, also the deer's head
which stood on a shelf over the door and was probably shot by a member
of the family in a dream, and the splendid silver tankards which
flanked this trophy and were possibly made of tin.

Mrs. Makebelieve further spoke of the personal characteristics of the
householder with an asperity which was still restrained. She had a
hairy chin, said Mrs. Makebelieve: she had buck teeth and a solid
smile, and was given to telling people who knew their business how
things ought to be done. Beyond this she would not say anything.--The
amount of soap the lady allowed to wash out five rooms and a lengthy
staircase was not as generous as one was accustomed to, but, possibly,
she was well-meaning enough when one came to know her better.

Mary Makebelieve, apropos of nothing, asked her mother did she ever
know a girl who got married to a policeman, and did she think that
policemen were good men?

Her mother replied that policemen were greatly sought