He made charmingly heavy weather of his new burden,pretending to puff and crumple under its weight,shaking his head and tutting in mock outrage.This made Sarah laugh,which seemed to satisfy him;he left,doffing his hat to her.Mrs. Hill closed the door on him;then,hands on hips,she watched Sarah brushing the ashes together on the hearth,swirling them into patterns,heaps,then sweeping them out flat again.The girl’s thoughts were,clearly,not on her work.