"I shall know better next time," said the old woman. CHAPTER V. When the old man and his wife woke up next morning they looked out of the window and saw that the weather was quite fine. The old man began to whistle and sing. He always did this when the weather was fine because he said fine weather always made him feel in such good spirits. In a little while the old woman began to sing too. Then the old man stopped. "What are you singing for?" he said to the old woman. "I feel in such good spirits," the old woman replied. "Oh, you do, do you?" said the old man. "You appear to forget that the red policeman is coming for you." "Oh dear, oh dear," said the old woman. "What a bad memory I have to be sure. Whatever shall I do?" And she burst into tears. "There, there," said the old man, "don't cry. We will give him sixpence when he calls, and ask him to have a piece of bread and butter with jam on it. Then perhaps he will go away." They went downstairs and had breakfast. They had just finished when there came an awfully loud knock at the door. The old woman went very pale. "It is the red policeman," she said. The old man went to open the door. But the old woman pulled him back. "You are forgetting the sixpence," she said, "and the piece of bread and butter with jam on it." "Of course, of course," said the old man, and he felt in his pocket for sixpence while the old woman cut a nice large thick slice of bread and covered it with butter and jam. "Perhaps after all," said the old man, "we had better not open the door, but hand the policeman the sixpence and the bread and butter with jam on it through the window." So he opened the window a little way and held out the sixpence and the bread and butter with jam on it to the person outside. "Thanks very much," said the person outside. And he put the sixpence in his pocket and began to eat the bread and butter with jam on it. And when he had finished eating he knocked again very loudly at the door. "Go away," said the old man. "My wife is
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