The beech was just near enough to the cloisters, the pieman's tree, and his own particular yew hedge, to come within his little kingdom.
Having mentioned her bag of peas, Mary Antony experienced an irresistible desire to view them and, moreover, to display them before the bright eyes of the robin.
She laid the queer nosegay down upon the grass at her feet, turned sidewise on the stone slab, and drew the bag from her wallet.
"Now, Master Pieman!" she said.

"At thine own risk thou doest it; but with thine own bright eyes thou shalt see the holy Ladies; the Unnamed, all like peas in a pod, as the Lord knows they do look, when they walk to and fro; but first, if so be that I can find them, the Few which I distinguish from among the rest." Presently, after much peering into the bag, the fine white pea, the wizened pea, and the pale and speckled pea, lay in line upon the stone.
"This," explained Mary Antony, pointing, with knobby forefinger, to the first, "is the Reverend Mother, Herself--large, and pure, and noble.

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