the birds and beasts?" There
would be no mercy for them; a glance at her eye told me that.

It was an immense relief to see that she could not possibly have got the
box about her, and another relief when my eye travelled to the door of
the house and I saw no fewer than three horseshoes nailed above it. I
smiled to myself. Oh, how angry she looked! But she had to act her part,
and with feeble curtseys and in a very small hoarse trembling voice she
wished me a good day (though I noticed her pointing to the ground with
her thumb as she said the words) and would be very obliged if I could
tell her the right time. I was going to pull out my watch (and if I had,
she would have seen a certain key we know of), when something said
suddenly and clearly to my brain, "Look out," and by good luck I heard a
clock inside the house strike one before I could answer.

"Just struck one," was my reply accordingly, and I said it as innocently
as I could. She drew her breath in hard and quivered all over, and her
mouth remained open like a cat's when it is using its worst expressions,
and when she eventually thanked me I leave it to you to imagine how
gracefully she did it.

Well, she had no more cards to play at the moment, and no excuse for
remaining. I stood my ground and watched her out of the gate. A path led
down the meadow, and, much against her will no doubt, she had to keep up
the pretence and toil painfully along it until she reached another hedge
and could reckon on being out of my sight. After that I neither saw nor
expected to see anything more of her. I went up to my room and found all
safe, and laid the four-leaved clover on the box. At luncheon I took
occasion to find out from the maid, without asking her in so many words,
whether the old woman had been visible to her; evidently she had not:
evidently also, the evil creatures were really on the track of the Five
Jars, knew that I had them, and had a very fair idea of where they were
kept.

However, if the maid had not seen her, the cat had, and murmured a good
deal to herself, and was in a rather nervous state. She sat, with her
ears turned different ways, on the window-sill, looking out, and
twitching her back uncomfortably, like an old lady who feels a draught.
When I was available, she came and sat on my knee (a very uncommon
attention on her part) with an air half of wishing to be protected and
half of undertaking to protect me.

"If there is fish to-night," I said,