sed to sing at his dinner-parties,
curled himself up in the straw, and had an excellent night's rest and
the pleasantest of dreams.

They had many interesting talks together, after that, as the dreary
days went on; and the gaoler's daughter grew very sorry for Toad, and
thought it a great shame that a poor little animal should be locked
up in prison for what seemed to her a very trivial offence. Toad, of
course, in his vanity, thought that her interest in him proceeded from
a growing tenderness; and he could not help half-regretting that the
social gulf between them was so very wide, for she was a comely lass,
and evidently admired him very much.

One morning the girl was very thoughtful, and answered at random, and
did not seem to Toad to be paying proper attention to his witty
sayings and sparkling comments.

"Toad," she said presently, "just listen, please. I have an aunt who
is a washerwoman."

"There, there," said Toad, graciously and affably, "never mind; think
no more about it. _I_ have several aunts who _ought_ to be
washerwomen."

"Do be quiet a minute, Toad," said the girl. "You talk too much,
that's your chief fault, and I'm trying to think, and you hurt my
head. As I said, I have an aunt who is a washerwoman; she does the
washing for all the prisoners in this castle--we try to keep any
paying business of that sort in the family, you understand. She takes
out the washing on Monday morning, and brings it in on Friday evening.
This is a Thursday. Now, this is what occurs to me: you're very
rich--at least you're always telling me so--and she's very poor. A few
pounds wouldn't make any difference to you, and it would mean a lot to
her. Now, I think if she were properly approached--squared, I believe
is the word you animals use--you could come to some arrangement by
which she would let you have her dress and bonnet and so on, and you
could escape from the castle as the official washerwoman. You're very
alike in many respects--particularly about the figure."

"We're _not_," said the Toad in a huff. "I have a very elegant
figure--for what I am."

"So has my aunt," replied the girl, "for what _she_ is. But have it
your own way. You horrid, proud, ungrateful animal, when I'm sorry for
you, and trying to help you!"

"Yes, yes, that's all right; thank you very much indeed," said the
Toad hurriedly. "But look here! you wouldn't surely have Mr. Toad, of
Toad Hall, going about the country disguised as a washerwo