Believe me, fair but haughty, the old fool has taken no hurt.
Distant as we were, I could hear his oaths of encouragement,
while the post-boys sawed as they had never sawed before. From
the way they were doing it, I shouldn't think they ever had."

"But they will soon procure a new linchpin. Is that right? And,
oh, Adam, they may be here any moment."

"Not so, my poppet. To get a linchpin, they must find a smith.
All the smiths within a radius of thirty miles are drunk. Yes,
me again. A man has to think of all these little things. I say,
we're giving the walls the time of their life, aren't we? Have
another cigarette?"

"After which I must go to bed."

"As you please, Mistress Eve," said I, reaching for a live coal
to give her a light.

For a little space we sat silent, watching the play of the
flames. Then she spoke slowly, half her thoughts elsewhere:

"You never told me your fairy tale, Adam."

"I expect you know it," said I. "It's all about the princess a
fellow found in the snow, and how he took her to his home for
shelter, and set her on her way in the morning, and then spent
his poor life trying to find her again. Anyway, one doesn't tell
fairy-tales to fairies, and- and I'd rather you watched the fire.