The Old Mans Bag | Page 3

the red policeman.
"Because if I had not sewn up the hole the butter might have got out, like my husband's hen."
"You are a very foolish old woman," said the policeman. "Do you not know that a roll of butter cannot walk like a hen?"
[Illustration: "You are a very foolish old woman."]
"Is that really so?" said the old woman. "Well, well. But I have seen butter run when it was melted."
"Never mind that," said the red policeman, "you will have to come with me to prison."
"I am too busy to go with you just now," said the old woman, "and my husband wants the butter for his tea. But if you like to call for me in the morning and the weather is fine I will come with you with pleasure."
"You are very polite," said the red policeman. "If you had been rude I should have made you go with me now. As it is I will call for you in the morning providing it doesn't rain."
"Thank you so much," said the old woman.
And she shook the red policeman warmly by the hand and went off to her husband.
CHAPTER IV.
When she got home the old man was sat in his chair by the fire. She could see by his face that he was in a bad temper. But she went up to him and kissed him and said, "Please don't be grumpy, for I have brought you something very nice for your tea."
"What is it?" said the old man, "a hen?"
"No," she said, "people don't have hens for tea, do they?"
"Perhaps not," said the old man. "But if you had brought a hen she might have laid an egg, and I could have had that. You know very well that I am fond of new laid eggs."
"New laid eggs are all very fine," said the old woman, "but butter is cheap to-day. I have brought you a beautiful fresh roll."
The old man smacked his lips.
While they were having tea the old woman began to laugh very much.
"What are you laughing at?" said the old man. "Did you meet the red policeman?"
"Yes, I did," said the old woman.
"And did he catch you?"
"Yes, he did," said the old woman.
"And he let you go?"
"Yes, he did," said the old woman.
"Why?"
"Because I was polite to him," said the old woman.
"Well I never," said the old man.
"But he is coming for me in the morning, providing the weather is fine," said the old woman.
The old man sat still in his chair and thought a great deal.
And by and by he said, "If you had asked the red policeman to tea like a sensible woman he might have let you off altogether."
"I shall know better next time," said the old woman.
CHAPTER V.
When the old man and his wife woke up next morning they looked out of the window and saw that the weather was quite fine. The old man began to whistle and sing. He always did this when the weather was fine because he said fine weather always made him feel in such good spirits. In a little while the old woman began to sing too. Then the old man stopped.
"What are you singing for?" he said to the old woman.
"I feel in such good spirits," the old woman replied.
"Oh, you do, do you?" said the old man. "You appear to forget that the red policeman is coming for you."
"Oh dear, oh dear," said the old woman. "What a bad memory I have to be sure. Whatever shall I do?" And she burst into tears.
"There, there," said the old man, "don't cry. We will give him sixpence when he calls, and ask him to have a piece of bread and butter with jam on it. Then perhaps he will go away."
They went downstairs and had breakfast. They had just finished when there came an awfully loud knock at the door. The old woman went very pale.
"It is the red policeman," she said.
The old man went to open the door. But the old woman pulled him back.
"You are forgetting the sixpence," she said, "and the piece of bread and butter with jam on it."
"Of course, of course," said the old man, and he felt in his pocket for sixpence while the old woman cut a nice large thick slice of bread and covered it with butter and jam.
"Perhaps after all," said the old man, "we had better not open the door, but hand the policeman the sixpence and the bread and butter with jam on it through the window."
So he opened the window a little way and held out the sixpence and the bread and butter with jam on it to the person outside.
"Thanks very much," said the person outside. And he put the sixpence in his pocket and began to eat the bread and butter with