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Rh times as large as they were. It was an old Chinese, that could nod his head. He was made of porcelain too, and said that he was grandfather of the little Shepherdess; but this he could not prove. He asserted, moreover, that he had authority over her, and that was the reason he had nodded his assent to the General-clothes-press-inspector-head-superintendent-Goat-legs, who paid his addresses to the Shepherdess.

“In him,” said the old Chinese, “you will have a husband who, I verily believe, is of mahogany. You will be Mrs. Goat- legs, the wife of a General-clothes-press-inspector-head-superintendent, who has his shelves full of plate, besides what is hidden in secret drawers and recesses.”

“I will not go into the dark cupboard,” said the little Shepherdess; “I have heard say that he has eleven wives of porcelain in there already.”

“Then you may be the twelfth,” said the Chinese. “To-night, as soon as the old clothes-press cracks, as sure as I am a