4 The Lost Idea

“Why, Timothy made them, as you might
say,” Jarge had said.
Then Mr. William the draper, quite over-
come with wonder, had gone home
and looked in the till and said,
“T can afford a new pair of boots.
I will go to Timothy and get him

to make me a wonderful pair.”

And the Squire’s factor, Mr.
James, had happened to go into the draper’s,
and had caught sight of the draper’s boots
right down in the dark behind the counter—
(for a really good thing cannot be hidden!)
—and had said, “O Mr. William! what
wonderful boots you have on! Whoever
made such boots?”

And Mr. William had said, “No other
than Timothy, I do assure you!”

And so the Squire’s factor had counted up
his money, and had ordered Timothy to make
him a wonderful pair of boots too; and the
Squire had caught sight of them right under
a rug on the floor of the factor’s dog-cart ;
and then the Squire had reckoned up how
much the new succession duties had left him