the ivory leg and the pour diamonds ix my cousin from france the dwarf s chamber n the dwarf s chamber oh twice i met with folk all in the cold � with them i beneath the oak and their wine but i have my weird because i a deadly sin they laid a curse on me and mine and gifted me with kin chapter i the the railway is responsible for the of sleepy villages into noisy towns of picturesque into gaudy hotels that iron road runs as by its touch begin to throw out lines of to gather into of roaring while the rustic of the parliament of rural into a three all glass and glitter and bare discomfort the host his apron for the smart of a and trim changing sex and to a lean black white of tips and in this may be progress but it is neither beauty nor comfort and in the dwarf s chamber stirring up to modem activity though the task may be the spirit of the age is apt to overlook the claims of eye and soul to lovely sights and artistic yet as on the verge of the lie broad still pools wherein collect and thrown off from the central so beyond the of railroad and town lie untouched by the restless spirit of the nineteenth century here may be found the pleasant of old time huddled in a confusion of picturesque houses round the square church grey and solemn here the market place with cross and inn yonder the dwelling of the lord of the showing red roofs and lean chimneys above the park tree tops at the end of the crooked street a narrow bridge a swift stream and beyond the dusty high road leaving behind its runs towards the smoky towns which skirt the of modern existence such a village is artists of the great tribe as they are knew it well and often had its quaint houses its ivy clad church its common figured on the walls of the academy so sleepy so peaceful so idle it was that here if anywhere might have built his pleasant castle of buried in fertile pasture lands thirty miles from the nearest railway was and heard as in a dream the t of the century roaring far away notwithstanding its to the high road it did not seem to recognize that it was its duty to increase its houses to its population not a single dwelling had been erected there for the last half century and its rural population was limited still to three hundred souls of the surrounding farms as in the middle ages no battles had been fought in its vicinity no great man had sprung from its inhabitants no industry of lace or cloth or straw the dwarf s chamber weaving was peculiar to the place in a word was to all useful purposes dead and no artist in love with its beauty ever wished it to be alive against the high road near the bridge stood the arms a quaint little from the days of the and now presided over by mistress sally she a comfortable old round and rosy as an apple was mistress out of courtesy to her age and respectability a famous was mistress sally learned in and and and her inn was clean and eminently comfortable here one slept in low rooms with diamond wherein were set pots of and here the sheets smelt of and the breakfast table was set forth with caught rich cream and the sweetest of home made bread three maid servants and an formed the staff of this and these mistress sally governed with a rod of iron but she was a kindly creature and her rule was beneficent hither in the evening came and farmer to taste the ale for which the arms was famous they sat in high backed settles with their before them and discussed such scraps of news as came from the outside world until it struck ten when mistress sally with many a laugh and jest them out so that they might not the respectability of her house by keeping midnight hours the parish clerk the the steward from even the parson himself knew that mellow and the of the home painters in search of the picturesque stayed at the of mistress sally and its white washed front its high red roof the twisted of chimneys and those rustic opening on to the village green once a lean and hungry poet came who abode a week in the best bedroom and then without paying his bill save in the following the dwarf s chamber oh mistress sally ask me not in gold to pay my shot for i fallen on evil times but lest you should he hai sh and wild with one who is the child i pay my debt in over which sufficiently bad verses mistress sally laughed till the tears her ruddy cheeks and the she had them hung up in the bar parlour had the lean poet appeared again he would no doubt have been permitted to pay a second bill in the like coin tm sorry for the poor creature and his bits of verse said mistress sally with a large hearted at the sunset hour she stood under the porch looking across the green to where the bridge the stream already in and with uncouth the customers of the arms were passing within and from the windows of the the flame of the early lighted lamps shrill children played round the old stone cross but mistress sally heedless of their noisy stared at the of the distant house as they loomed against the clear evening sky she had been a still room maid in the service of the and as was natural took a deep interest in the family what she was thinking of it is impossible to say but she up her lips and 