"Sit down there, then, Willie," he said; adding, as he handed him the
calf-skin, "There's your leather, and my tools are at your service. Make
your shoes, and welcome. I shall be glad of your company."
Having thus spoken, he sat down again, caught up his boot hurriedly, and
began stitching away as if for bare life.
Willie took the calf-skin on his lap, somewhat bewildered. If he had
been asked to cut out a pair of seven-leagued boots for the ogre, there
would have seemed to his eyes enough of leather for them in that one
skin. But how ever was he to find two pieces small enough for doll's
shoes in such an ocean of leather? He began to turn it round and round,
looking at it all along the edge, while Hector was casting sidelong
glances at him in the midst of his busyness, with a curiosity on his
face which his desire to conceal it caused to look grim instead of
amused.
Willie, although he had never yet considered how shoes are made, had
seen at once that nothing could be done until he had got the command of
a manageable bit of leather; he found too much only a shade better than
too little; and he saw that it wouldn't be wise to cut a piece out
anywhere, for that might spoil what would serve for a large pair of
shoes or even boots.
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