Page:Stories told to a child.djvu/194

 my certain knowledge. Well, good morning, mistress, I must go.'

"Do stop one minute, cried Bella, urgently—'where did she get this servant?'

'O, I don't know,' said the cobbler; 'servants are plentiful enough; and Polly uses hers well, I can tell you.'

'And what does she do for her?'

'Do for her? Why, all sorts of things—I think she's the cause of her prosperity. To my knowledge she never refuses to do anything—keeps Tom's and Polly's clothes in beautiful order, and the baby's.'

'Dear me!' said Bella, in an envious tone, and holding up both her hands; 'well, she is a lucky woman, and I always said so. She takes good care I shall never see her servant. What sort of a servant is she, and how came she to have only one eye?'

'It runs in her family,' replied the cobbler, stitching busily, 'they are all so—one eye apiece; yet they make a very good use of it, and Polly's servant has four cousins who are blind—stone-blind; no eyes at all; and they sometimes come and help her. I've seen them in the cottage myself, and that's how Polly gets a good deal of her money. They work for her, and she takes what they make to market, and buys all those handsome things.'

'Only think,' said Bella, almost ready to cry with vexation, 'and I've not got a soul to do anything for me; how hard it is!' and she took up her apron to wipe away her tears.

The cobbler looked attentively at her. 'Well, you Rh