to. We must be careful:
there's not much more than half of it left, even counting the sugar.'

We did not wish to tell Eliza--I don't know why. And she opened the door
very quickly that day, so that the Taxes and a man who came to our house
by mistake for next door got away before Alice had a chance to try them
with the Castilian Amoroso. But about five Eliza slipped out for half an
hour to see a friend who was making her a hat for Sunday, and while
she was gone there was a knock. Alice went, and we looked over the
banisters. When she opened the door, she said at once, 'Will you walk
in, please?' The person at the door said, 'I called to see your Pa,
miss. Is he at home?'

Alice said again, 'Will you walk in, please?'

Then the person--it sounded like a man--said, 'He is in, then?'

But Alice only kept on saying, 'Will you walk in, please?' so at last
the man did, rubbing his boots very loudly on the mat.

Then Alice shut the front door, and we saw that it was the butcher, with
an envelope in his hand. He was not dressed in blue, like when he is
cutting up the sheep and things in the shop, and he wore knickerbockers.
Alice says he came on a bicycle. She led the way into the dining-room,
where the Castilian Amoroso bottle and the medicine glass were standing
on the table all ready.

The others stayed on the stairs, but Oswald crept down and looked
through the door-crack.

'Please sit down,' said Alice quite calmly, though she told me
afterwards I had no idea how silly she felt. And the butcher sat down.
Then Alice stood quite still and said nothing, but she fiddled with
the medicine glass and put the screw of brown paper straight in the
Castilian bottle.

'Will you tell your Pa I'd like a word with him?' the butcher said, when
he got tired of saying nothing.

'He'll be in very soon, I think,' Alice said.

And then she stood still again and said nothing. It was beginning to
look very idiotic of her, and H. O. laughed. I went back and cuffed him
for it quite quietly, and I don't think the butcher heard.

But Alice did, and it roused her from her stupor. She spoke suddenly,
very fast indeed--so fast that I knew she had made up what she was going
to say before. She had got most of it out of the circular.

She said, 'I want to call your attention to a sample of sherry wine I
have here. It is called Castilian something or other, and at the price
it is unequalled for flavour and bouquet.'

The butcher said, 'We