"Then why in the name of Fortune don't you pay up?"

"Because I had to pay all that to Noaks for bird-seed."

"D'you mean to say that that bird ate five shillings' worth of seed in
four weeks?"

"Well, so Noaks says; he told me he'd kept scores of birds in his time,
but he'd 'never seen one so hearty at its grub before.' Those were the
very words he used, and he said it was eating nearly all the day, and
that's one reason why it looks such a dowdy colour, and never sings."

"Well, all I can say is, if you believe all Noaks tells you, you're a
fool. But that's no reason why these two chaps should be done out of
their money; so now, how are you going to pay them?"

"If they only wait till pocket-money's given out--" began Mugford.

"Oh no, we shan't!" interrupted Cross. "He only gets sixpence a week,
and he's always breaking windows and other things, and having it
stopped."

There seemed only one way out of the difficulty, and that was to put as
it were an execution into Mugford's desk, and realize a certain amount
of his private property.

"Look here," said Acton, "he must sell something.--Now, then," he added,
turning to the defendant, "just shell out something and bring it here at
once, and we'll have an auction."