Page:A Study in Colour - Augusta Zelia Fraser.pdf/25

14 green and masses of blazing scarlet blossoms, transformed the homely little scene into a perfect study of gorgeous tropical colour. To a native it would perhaps have conveyed little, but in the English eyes of the Missus it signified a great deal, and she paused again upon her way in order to admire it more closely.

Two or three black women were standing by the store counter, gossiping on their way to early church. The shop was not by way of being kept open on Sunday, but fruit spoils quickly, and Josiah was therefore willing, and even anxious, to part with his last night's stock at a cheap rate. Akees, as all the world knows, become poisonous if kept, and he was always ready to oblige a neighbour; also, but this is an after thought, he had no shutters to put up.

The women accordingly chattered like parrots over the fruit, and made elaborate bargains.

It was a point of religion among them that no money should pass on the Lord's Day, and the transfer, therefore, had to be carried out by the promise of so many sugar-canes and so many mangoes, custard apples, or sweet sops, to be