d of how much they
raised; and though we were often curious to know more than we did,
myself especially, yet the fear of being snubbed by Miss Belinda
prevented us from making any inquiries. The daughters did nothing,
unless it were to dress well, a great deal better than any of us, and
to be often in the street. It is true that Arthur was an apprentice, and
was no expense to the family; but beyond what he received from his
employer we could not learn that they had any income but what was
produced from the garden.

Still, all the neighborhood knew that old Tetchy had an immense bed of
strawberries; they could see that through the cracks in the fence. Then
he had fixed up a large number of seats in different parts of the
garden, and there, during the season, was a constant throng of visitors,
who came to eat strawberries and cream. He had carried on this business
for a great many years. I had never noticed these things very
particularly, until my mother and I began debating how it was that the
Tetchy family contrived to live and dress so well without apparently
doing anything except looking after a garden no larger than our own. But
when my curiosity had been awakened, I started out on a course of
inquiry that resulted in throwing more light on the subject than the
Tetchys supposed. I watched the crowd of visitors who entered the
garden-gate every evening in June to eat strawberries, and found it so
large that toward the last of the season I began to count them. The
number was so great that it amazed us, and my mother was sure I must
have been mistaken. I regretted not having begun the enumeration when
the season first opened, as that would have given us some idea of what
we had vainly tried to ascertain from the family,--the number of pints
of strawberries they raised in a season. My sister had entered heartily
into the spirit of inquiry which now moved me, and became extremely
accessible to Arthur Tetchy, even consenting to walk out with him
several evenings, in the hope of being invited into the garden, or of
getting some information out of him, in aid of the common cause. But the
fellow had been so well tutored on the subject that he proved a regular
know-nothing,--he had no idea what quantity they raised,--in short, he
refused to tell. But in addition to what was consumed in the garden, we
saw, during the day, numerous callers with baskets, and we knew that
their errand was to buy strawberries. Then old Tetchy was s