she began fumblin' in her pocket an' she says to me,
'Martha, tha's brought me thy wages like a good
lass, an' I've got four places to put every penny,
but I'm just goin' to take tuppence out of it to buy
that child a skippin'-rope,' an' she bought one an'
here it is."

She brought it out from under her apron and
exhibited it quite proudly. It was a strong,
slender rope with a striped red and blue handle at
each end, but Mary Lennox had never seen a
skipping-rope before. She gazed at it with a mystified
expression.

"What is it for?" she asked curiously.

"For!" cried out Martha. "Does tha' mean
that they've not got skippin'-ropes in India, for
all they've got elephants and tigers and camels!
No wonder most of 'em's black. This is what
it's for; just watch me."

And she ran into the middle of the room and,
taking a handle in each hand, began to skip, and
skip, and skip, while Mary turned in her chair to
stare at her, and the queer faces in the old portraits
seemed to stare at her, too, and wonder what
on earth this common little cottager had the impudence
to be doing under their very noses. But
Martha did not even see them. The interest and
curiosity in Mistress Mary's face delighted her,

[[90]]

p089 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p090w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p091

v?