"He used to go out then on the Heath--to study the Canal, he said, and get fresh sketches."
Philip, who was inclined to be a little superior on the subject of London geography, announced firmly that there was no canal on Hampstead Heath.
"Only in Regent's Park," he said. "Besides, why should he sketch a canal?"
"Canal," she explained, "is a French word, and means people--people with concertinas and bananas, who sing and wear each other's hats, and leave paper about. Dad would sketch them when they weren't looking, and then put them into the picture. Oh, I forgot to tell you that the giant had great huge hands, and he was clutching everything he could lay his hands on--castles, and mountains, and live people. He had a real king, with a crown on, between his finger and thumb."
"What about the disappointment?" asked Philip.
"The disappointment? Oh, yes; I forgot. Well, at last the picture was finished and sent away--in a lovely frame. But it came back. One afternoon I went into the studio, and there was Father. He was sitting very quiet and still on a little stool in front of the picture. He never moved, or looked round, or said 'Go away!' when I came in. I was so surprised. For a long time he had been having a lot of bad tempers, so when I saw him sitting so still and quiet I was quite frightened.
"I went and stood beside him, and looked at the picture, too. Then he saw me, and said: 'It has come back, you see, Peggy!' He said it two or three times, I think. 'There are eight years of a man's life in that picture--eight years of a man's body and blood and bones! And it has been sent back--sent back, by a parcel of promoted housepainters who daren't let such a piece of work hang on their walls because they know it would _kill_ every filthy daub of their own within reach!'
"Then he asked me what we should do with it. I said--of course I was _quite_ small then--that I thought if he took it and showed it to the wolf it would frighten him away altogether. That made him laugh. He laughed in a funny way, too, and went on so long that I thought he would never leave off. At last he stopped, and made a queer noise in his throat, and said: 'No, we won't do that. I will show you a more excellent way.' He said that two or three times over, like he did before. Then he got up, and went and pulled a big sword and dagger out of a rack of armour and stuff in the corner, and said: 'Now for some real fun, Peggy!' and we cut up the picture into little bits. Father slashed and slashed at it with the sword, and I poked holes in it with the dagger."
