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42 whether he was the man who had spoken in that way or not, he could either strike him or not strike him.

.—Really, Nora, I am not saying that it would; but I am saying that he had determined to do it, whether it was right or not. But it was all the same, for he failed to get a single glimpse of him, at home or abroad. He never got tale or tidings of him, high or low, and at last the whole business went out of his head.

When he had finished the two pair of shoes, although he had not used up the pound's worth of leather, he went and took home two pounds' worth, and then four pounds' worth. Then he engaged two other shoemakers at daily wages, and after a while two others. In a very short time he had acquired a great name in the country for the goodness and cheapness of his shoes, and it was to him that all the best workmen used to come, because he used to feed them best and pay them best. And it was to him that the richest and highest people used to come to buy shoes, because it was his shoes that were of the best material and of the neatest make. It was to him the poor used to come, who had not the money handy for the shoes, because he used to give them fine long credit, and when the time came for payment and the debts were not paid, he was not hard about claiming them. Shoemakers who had not money to buy leather used often to come to him and ask him to lend them a little money so that they could be working and earning something instead of being