27/138 She was more particularly known in the town as a chair-mender. In the South large numbers of straw-bottomed chairs are used. When he went to sell his baskets in the winter he would stand beside the stove on which she cooled her chestnuts and warm himself. He was astonished at her courage, he who was frightened of the least work. By degrees he discerned, beneath the apparent roughness of this strapping creature, signs of timidity and kindliness. |