Beatrix Potter Books

Online Versions

Home Main Menu Order Support About Search



Share page  


Previous Contents Next

There were twelve pieces for the coat and four pieces for the
waistcoat; and there were pocket flaps and cuffs, and buttons all in
order. For the lining of the coat there was fine yellow taffeta; and for
the button-holes of the waistcoat, there was cherry-coloured twist.
And everything was ready to sew together in the morning, all
measured and sufficient—except that there was wanting just one
single skein of cherry-coloured twisted silk.
The tailor came out of his shop at dark, for he did not sleep there at nights; he fastened the window and locked the door, and took away the key. No one lived there at night but little brown mice, and they
run in and out without any keys!
For behind the wooden wainscots of all the old houses in
Gloucester, there are little mouse staircases and secret trap-doors;
and the mice run from house to house through those long narrow
passages; they can run all over the town without going into the
streets.