ith me to my place. Be _me_ for just one
day, from morning to evening, and _I_ will be _you_."

Daniel got up, and before he was conscious of what he was doing, he had
put on his clothes and was out on the street with the Goose Man. They
crossed the market place, and Daniel, in a crepuscular state of mind,
climbed up, with the help of the Goose Man, and took his place on the
base of the fountain behind the iron railing. The two geese he took
under his arms. He stood perfectly still, rigid, just like the Goose
Man, and waited in anticipation of the things that were to come.

V

But nothing extraordinary happened. Everything that took place was quite
prosaic and obviously a matter of custom.

The sun rose, and the market women took the cords and covers from their
baskets. Fresh cherries, young pears, and winter apples shone in all
their brilliancy of colour and lent variety to the drab square. Sparrows
picked in the straw that lay on the street. The sun rose higher; its
early red gave way to a midday blue. Clouds drifted over the roof of the
church. The women gossiped. Wagons rattled by, errand boys called to
each other, curtains were drawn from the windows, and men and women
looked out to see what the weather was going to be like. There were
sleepy faces and anxious faces, good faces and bad faces, young and old.

Maids and humbler housewives came to make their purchases. They examined
the fruit with seasoned care and experienced hand, and bargained for
lower prices. The peasant women praised what they had, and if their
praise was ineffectual, they became abusive. Once a sale had been made,
they would take their balances, put the weights in one pan and the fruit
in another, and never cease praising what they were selling until they
had the money safe in their pockets. Then they would count over the
coins they had received, and looked at them as if to say: "It is fine to
earn money!"

But those who paid out the money bore the mien of painful care and
solicitude. They seemed to be counting it all up in their heads; to be
taking lessons in mental arithmetic. They would think over how much it
were wise or permissible for them to spend. The thing that impressed
Daniel most of all, and the longer he stood there the clearer it became
to him, was this: Each purchaser went right up to the very edge of the
territory staked out for her, so to speak, by some mysterious master.
This they fel