In response to my knock, a
short, elderly man opened the door. His hair came to his shoulders; he
wore a green coat and bright yellow trousers; and his arms were so long
that his large brown hands hung down almost to his knees.
It was his nose, however, that especially caught my attention, for it
was tipped back almost as if the end had been cut off. I am afraid I
stared at him.
"And what does this little gentleman want?" he said in a soft, silky
voice that filled me with fresh wonder.
I recalled my wits sufficiently to ask whether he had an eyestone, and
if he had, whether he would lend it to us. Whereupon in the same soft
voice he told me that he had the day before lent his eyestone to a man
who lived a mile or more from the mills.
"You can have it if you will go and get it," he said.
I paid him the usual fee of ten cents, and turned to hasten away; but he
called me back. "It must be refreshed," he said.
He gave me a little glass vial half full of some liquid and told me to
drop the eyestone into it when I should get it. Before using the
eyestone it should be warmed in warm water, he said; then it should be
put very gently under the lid at the corner of the eye.
Pages:
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276