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woman. She was plain to ugliness. Her nose was broad, her eyes small, very like the eyes of the miller with deep glints in them, and her skin was thick like that you'd see on some man, and she had a big mole on her chin. Then she smiled at Matthew, and Cissie's eyes became concentrated on her mouth showing now a set of beautiful white teeth.
    The smile made her look different and her voice was pleasant as she said, "Why, Matthew," and there was pleasure in the sound of it and Cissie thought. She likes him, she likes him very much. When the woman looked inquiringly at her and the children, Matthew said softly,
    "They're the Brodies from Heatherbrook; they've just buried their parents."
    "Aw, poor things." Her glance swept over them and came to rest on Cissie, and after a second she turned away, saying, "They'll be for the house I suppose?" And Matthew turned with her, but Cissie could not hear what he answered.
    The miller now beckoned them all towards him, saying, "Come on along with you and I'll show you something I bet you've never seen afore."
    Clustered together, they went through the brick piers that supported the mill itself, past the cart that was standing near the central post, having sacks let down to it from the floor above, then, leading the way to a ladder set almost vertically against a post, he said, "Think you can climb that? No need to be afraid, stones aren't workin', runner's being dressed. The top mill stone" -he patted Jimmy on the head-"the one that does all the work."
    When, after scrambling and slipping, they all reached the first floor they stood, still close together, looking about them in amazement, and they stared in wonder at a man who grinned at them while smearing a long flat piece of wood with soot, after which he began rubbing it over the surface of a great stone.
    "Ah! that surprises you, doesn't it? Soot in a flour mill, eh?" The miller was shouting now.
    "But nothing like soot for sorting out the dents. Picks up a flaw as small as a pin head, it does. An' do you know something? Mill stones are like women, did you know that?" He was addressing Cissie again.
    "They are, 'cos they have eyes and eyebrows, and chests, and finally a skirt. Aye, the mill stones are very like women. You put the corn in by the eye, the chest breathes it in, and the skirt wafts it out." He looked at them all now, laughing heartily, then said, "You all lost your tongues? Don't want to ask any questions?"
    When none of them made to answer he laughed his loud laugh again, and shaking his big head he said, "Quietest hairns ever been in here. But then, suppose it's understandable." His face sober now, he led the way back down the ladder; then going into a barnI he Dwelling fl ace ^y like structure beyond the piers, he dipped a big metal scoop into a bin and poured the rough flour into a hessian bag and took it to a tall scale on which he weighed it, saying, "I'm a good guesser as a rule, but I'm out the day. Pound over a stone there is there. But we'll call it straight, eh? All for nine pence Once in a lifetime you'll get a bargain like that, me girl, and I'm tellin' you."
    When he handed her the sack she handed him the shilling, and he said,
    "Ah! change you want. Well now, 'tis Rose that sees to the money side.
    Leave the sack there and come away over. Go on," he said when he saw her hesitating to put the sack down, " nobody's goin' to steal it. "
    He was laughing again.
    Like sheep they followed him from the mill across the yard, through a door, and into another yard, a smaller yard, private, with boxes along one wall that held flowers and in the same wall a window that opened outwards and on which were hanging white lace curtains.
    The miller was shouting through a doorway now, "Have you got a shive for them?" And his daughter came into the yard, saying, "Of course.
    Of course." She had a mug in her hand from which the steam was rising, and behind her stood Matthew. He too had a mug in his hand, and the sight of the