Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/328

, cabbages, saveloys, fried fish and pease-pudding cooked. His motto was: "Everything of the best." But he had the misfortune to be quite unable to judge whether his goods were really of the best or not, in consequence of an injury to his palate, arising from a blow on the mouth with a quart pot, inflicted in the heat of discussion by a wealthy acquaintance. So that he, being a perfect gentleman, had requested Kiddo Cook, out of the friendship he bore him, to drop in occasionally and test his samples. "Take a good, big whack, you know," said he, "and get the advice of a friend or two, if you ain't sure." So Kiddo would take frequent and handsome whacks accordingly, to the perfect gentleman's delight; and, not quite knowing what to do with all the whacks, or being desirous of an independent opinion on them (there was some confusion between these two motives) he would bring Mrs. Perrott samples, from time to time,