"Tell me half of it. As much as that." She held her hands about nine inches apart.

"That's too much."

"As much as that." The hands came a little nearer together.

"Oh! Well, I'll tell you up to where the Beast died."

"Fought he died," she corrected eagerly.

"Yes. Well——"

"How much will that be? As much as I said?"

I nodded. The preliminary business settled, she gave a little sigh of happiness, put her arms round her knees, and waited breathlessly for the story she had heard twenty times before.

"Once upon a time there was a man who had three daughters. And one day——"

"What was the man's name?"