'If wet and held to the light you can see through them and note markings in them; if I find some of good colour and very clear, with veins and silklike twists, then the gentlefolk buy them.'
'Oh! the pebbles.'
'No. Not the pebbles as they are, they have to be polished first. When we had our cottage, there was a grinding stone there, and mother turned the handle and I rubbed down the stone, and then with a little powder and some oil I got polish enough to see whether they really was good for anything.'
'Whether they were. Excuse me, I interrupt.'
'Are you a schoolmaster, sir?'
'I—oh dear, no.'
'I thought you might be, and were turning the grinding stone on me.'
There was a twinkle in her eyes.
'Well, sir,' she continued, 'then I take them to Mr. Thomas Gasset, at Seaton, and he gives me a shilling for a very beautiful specimen, but generally eightpence or a groat.'
'Ah! That is your pocket money?'