Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/348

 says to meself, 'This won't do,' says I. 'On'y ninepence for a pair o' boots like them ain't fair,' I says, 'an' I 'd rayther be at a lawss on 'em than not be fair. Fair 's fair, as the apostle David says in the Proverbs, an' them boots is worth very near one-an'-nine. So I'll give Mr. Perrott another shillin',' I says, 'the very next time I see 'im,' an' there it is."

He put the shilling on the table, and Dicky pocketed it, nothing loth. The thing might be hard to understand, but that concerned him not. There was the shilling. Likewise, there was the bacon, and the coffee that went with it, and Dicky went at them with a will, reckoning nothing of why they were there, and nothing of any matter which might make the giver anxious in the prospect of an early meeting with Josh.

"Ah," Mr. Weech went on, "It 'll be quite a pleasure to see yer father agin, that it will. Wot a blessed release! 'Free