"No," said the old man. "She got out through that hole in the corner."
"Ah," said the old woman, "I must sew up that hole."
And she took the bag down from its nail and sewed up the hole. For she was a very neat woman and she did not like to see holes in bags.
CHAPTER III.
The next day was market day. On market day people who have butter or cheese to sell take it into the market to sell it. And people who have money and happen to want butter or cheese go into the market to buy it. The old man's wife had nothing to sell. Neither had she any money. But she wanted some butter very badly. So she took the old man's bag off the nail and carried it to market. She walked round the market with the bag under her arm and looked at all the stalls and enquired how much the strawberries were a pound; but she did not buy anything because she had no money. In a little while she came to a stall on which there were six rolls of fine fresh butter, and in front of them was a card on which the man who brought the butter to market had written—
Butter is Cheap To-Day.
"I am glad butter is cheap to-day," said the old woman to herself, and when the man who had brought the butter to market was not looking she picked up a roll and dropped it into her bag. Then she ran away as fast as she could.
When she got round the corner the red policeman saw her. He shouted out, "What have you got in that bag?"