, and
away!

As he walked along he saw an old woman hobbling in front of him. She was
leaning on a stick and her hand was red and swollen with rheumatism. She
hobbled by reason of the fact that there were stones in her shapeless
boots. She was draped in the sorriest miscellaneous rags that could
be imagined, and these were knotted together so intricately that her
clothing, having once been attached to her body, could never again
be detached from it. As she walked she was mumbling and grumbling to
herself, so that her mouth moved round and round in an india-rubber
fashion.

The Philosopher soon caught up on her.

"Good morrow, ma'am," said he.

But she did not hear him: she seemed to be listening to the pain which
the stones in her boots gave her.

"Good morrow, ma'am," said the Philosopher again.

This time she heard him and replied, turning her old, bleared eyes
slowly in his direction-"Good morrow to yourself, sir," said she, and
the Philosopher thought her old face was a very kindly one.

"What is it that is wrong with you, ma'am?" said he.

"It's my boots, sir," she replied. "Full of stones they are, the way I
can hardly walk at all, God help me!"

"Why don't you shake them out?"

"Ah, sure, I couldn't be bothered, sir, for there are so many holes in
the boots that more would get in before I could take two steps, and an
old woman can't be always fidgeting, God help her!"

There was a little house on one side of the road, and when the old woman
saw this place she brightened up a little.

"Do you know who lives in that house?" said the Philosopher.

"I do not," she replied, "but it's a real nice house with clean windows
and a shiny knocker on the door, and smoke in the chimney--I wonder
would herself give me a cup of tea now if I asked her--A poor old
woman walking the roads on a stick! and maybe a bit of meat, or an egg
perhaps...."

"You could ask," suggested the Philosopher gently.

"Maybe I will, too," said she, and she sat down by the road just outside
the house and the Philosopher also sat down.

A little puppy dog came from behind the house and approached them
cautiously. Its intentions were friendly but it had already found that
amicable advances are sometimes indifferently received, for, as it drew
near, it wagged its dubious tail and rolled humbly on the ground. But
very soon the dog discovered that here there was no evil, for it trotted
over to the old woman, and without any more prepar