Page:Jepson--Pollyooly.djvu/180

 "I'll try, sir," said Pollyooly briskly, her face lighting up at the prospect of action.

"I'll give you half-a-crown if you can work it," said the gentleman; and Pollyooly's face grew still brighter at the prospect of this munificent reward.

The gentleman took a slim betting-book from his pocket, wrote in it, apparently with some labor, and tore the leaf out of it.

Then he said, "Here it is. How are you going to work it?"

Pollyooly gazed at him with puckered brow. The life of Alsatia and the struggle to preserve the Lump from the workhouse had indeed sharpened her wits; but no risks must be taken in the matter of earning half-a-crown.

Then her face brightened again and she said: "Do you want those violets very much, sir? If you don't, I would stick the note in the middle of them, and nobody could see it."

"Rippin' idea! That's just where I wanted the violets to go when I bought them on the chance. She likes violets better than any flowers," said the gentleman in a tone of warm enthusiasm.

With that he took them out of his buttonhole and