; I'm going to have my dinner. I only came up to say good
night."

Margery leant forward and whispered coaxingly, "Will you just tell me
about Beauty and 'e Beast?"

"But I've told you that such heaps of times. And it's much too long for
to-night."

"Tell me _half_ of it. As much as _that_." She held her hands about nine
inches apart.

"That's too much."

"As much as _that_." The hands came a little nearer together.

"Oh! Well, I'll tell you up to where the Beast died."

"_Fought_ he died," she corrected eagerly.

"Yes. Well----"

"How much will that be? As much as I said?"

I nodded. The preliminary business settled, she gave a little sigh of
happiness, put her arms round her knees, and waited breathlessly for the
story she had heard twenty times before.

"Once upon a time there was a man who had three daughters. And one
day----"

"What was the man's name?"

"Margery," I said reproachfully, annoyed at the interruption, "you know
I _never_ tell you the man's name."

"Tell me now."

"Oswald," I said after a moment's thought.

"I told Daddy it was Thomas," said Margery casually.

"Well, as a matter of fact he had two names, Oswald _and_ Thomas."

"Why did he have two names?"

"In case he lost one. Well, one day this man, who was very poor, heard
that a lot of money was waiting for him in a ship which had come over
the sea to a town some miles off. So he----"

"Was it waiting at Weymouf?"

"Somewhere like that."

"I spex it must have been Weymouf, because there's lots of sea there."

"Yes, I'm sure it was. Well, he thought he'd go to Weymouth and get the
money."

"How much monies was it?"

"Oh, lots and lots."

"As much as five pennies?"

"Yes, about that. Well, he said good-bye to his daughters and asked them
what they'd like him to bring back for a present. And the first asked
for some lovely jewels and diamonds and----"

"Like Mummy's locket--is that jewels?"

"That sort of idea. Well, she wanted a lot of things like that. And the
second wanted some beautiful clothes."

"What sort of clothes?"

"Oh, frocks and--well, frocks and all sorts of--er frocks."

"Did she want any lovely new stockings?"

"Yes, she wanted three pairs of those."

"And did she want any lovely----"

"Yes," I said hastily, "she wanted lots of those, too. Lots of
_everything_."

Margery gave a little sob of happiness. "Go on telling me," she said
under her breath.

"Well, the third daughter was call