Galleon wear?"
"He didn't wear stockings unless, as you might say, in country attire, and
then, if I remember correctly, they were grey."
"Had he any children?"
"There was one little dear when I had the honour of being in the house--and
since then I have heard that there are two more."
"Mrs. Trussit, where do children come from?"
"They are brought by God's good angels when we are all asleep in the night
time."
"Oh!" (this rather doubtfully). A pause--then "Did the Earl of Twinkerton
have hot or cold baths?"
"Cold in the morning, I believe, with the chill off and hot at night before
dressing for dinner. He was a very cleanly gentleman."
"Mrs. Trussit, where _is_ Patagonia? It came in the history this morning."
"North of the Caribbean Sea, I believe, my dear."
And so on, and Peter never forgot any of her answers. About the
carol-singers she was a little irritable. They had woken her it seemed from
a very delightful sleep, and she considered the whole affair "savoured of
Paganism." And then Peter found suddenly that he didn't wish to talk about
the carol-singers at all because the things that he felt about them were,
in some curious way, not the things that he could say to Mrs. Trussit.
She was very kind to him during that Christmas week and gave him mixed
biscuits out of a brightly shining tin that she kept in a cupboard in her
room.
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