“Quite right,” she replied. “I am going to tell you one that ends as happily as you could wish it to. You will, I am sure, be quite satisfied with the conclusion of:
“‘The Grocer and the Farthing Doll’”
Never was there a love affair more perplexing than the love affair of the Grocer and the Farthing Doll. It puzzled the whole toy-shop; it even puzzled the two lovers themselves.
The affair was rather difficult to understand, but I will try to explain it to you as simply as I can.
Everyone knew that the Grocer and the Farthing Doll loved each other; the Grocer knew he loved the Farthing Doll, but he did not know that she loved him; the Farthing Doll knew that she loved the Grocer, but she didn’t know if he loved her.
So everything was at a stand-still, and none of the other dolls knew how to bring the matter to a happy end. No one quite liked to interfere. And for these reasons: The Grocer was very proud and would take no advice, whilst the Farthing Doll was so sensitive that a single wrong word might cause her a serious illness. Again, the Grocer wouldn’t ask the Farthing Doll to marry him because, being a proud Toy, he feared the humiliation of her saying “No.” She, on her part, would not say much to help him, lest it should look as if she were forward.
It was thus that matters stood, when, walking along the counter one day, the Farthing Doll met the Grocer sauntering by with a sad face.
“Well!” she exclaimed, with a start of surprise. “Fancy seeing you here!”