or twice pretending to lay them in and bringing
the bunches out again, as if to balk me, but all in a grim serious way,
as if it was part of his work.

I was so busy and excited that I hardly had time to enjoy the sweet
scent of the flowers in that cool, soft pit; but in a short time I was
so far accustomed that I had an eye for the men bringing in fresh
supplies, just cut, and for the women who, working at rough benches,
were so cleverly laying the buds in a half-moon shape between their
fingers and thumbs, the flowers being laid flat upon the bench. Then a
second row was laid upon the first, a piece of wet matting was rapidly
twisted round, tied, and the stalks cut off regularly with one pressure
of the knife.

It seemed to me as if enough of the beautiful pink buds nestling in
their delicate green leaves were being tied up to supply all London, but
I was exceedingly ignorant then.

Mine was not a hard task; and as I attended to it, whenever Ike, who was
packing, had his eyes averted from me, I had a good look at him. I had
often seen him before, but only at a distance, and at a distance Ike
certainly looked best.

I know he could not help it, but decidedly Ike, Old Brownsmith's chief
packer and carter, was one of the strongest and ugliest men I ever saw.
He was a brawny, broad-shouldered fellow of about fifty, with iron-grey
hair; and standing out of his brown-red face, half-way between fierce,
stiff, bushy whiskers, was a tremendous aquiline nose. When his hat was
off, as he removed it from time to time to give it a rub, you saw that
he had a very shiny bald head--in consequence, as I suppose, of so much
polishing. His eyes were deeply set but very keen-looking, and his
mouth when shut had one aspect, when open another. When open it seemed
as if it was the place where a few very black teeth were kept. When
closed it seemed as if made to match his enormous nose; the line formed
by the closed lips, being continued right down on either side in a
half-moon or parenthesis curve to the chin, which was always in motion.

A closer examination showed that Ike had only a mouth of the ordinary
dimensions, the appearance of size being caused by two marks of caked
tobacco-juice, a piece of that herb being always between his teeth.

This habit he afterwards told me he had learned when he was a soldier,
and he still found it useful and comforting in the long night watches he
had to take.

I have said that his eyes w