'What!' he cried, and was about to
run, when he saw where I was pointing. 'Oh!' he said. 'I see, They're dead.
Well, who do you live with, if I let you live, which I haven't decided yet?'
'With my sister,
sir, wife of Joe Gargery, the blacksmith.'
'Blacksmith, you say?' And he
looked down at his leg. Then he held me by both arms and stared fiercely down
into my eyes.
'Now look here. You bring me a
file. You know what that is? And you bring me some food. If you don't, or if
you tell anyone about me, I'll cut your heart out.'
'I promise I'll do it, sir,' I
answered. I was badly frightened and my whole body was trembling.
'You see,' he continued, smiling
unpleasantly, 'I travel with a young man, a friend of mine, who roasts boys'
hearts and eats them. He'll find you, wherever you are, and he'll have your
heart. So bring the file and the food to that wooden shelter over there, early
tomorrow morning, if you want to keep your heart, that is. Remember, you
promised!'
I watched him turn and walk with
difficulty across the marshes, the chain hanging clumsily around his leg. Then
I ran home as fast as I could.
My sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, was
very proud of the fact that she had brought me up 'by hand'. Nobody explained
to me what this meant, and because she had a hard and heavy hand, which she
used freely on her husband as well as me, I supposed that Joe and I were both
brought up by hand. She was not a beautiful woman, being tall and thin, with
black hair and eyes and a very red face. She clearly felt that Joe and I caused
her a lot of trouble, and she frequently complained about it. Joe, on the other
hand, was a gentle, kind man with fair hair and weak blue eyes, who quietly
accepted her scolding.
Because Joe and I were in the same
position of being scolded by Mrs. Joe, we were good friends, and Joe protected
me from her anger whenever he could.