"What is it? Show it to me," said Blasi, with more animation.

"First I will tell you something, and then you shall have it," replied
Judith. "Look here, Blasi, my sainted father used to say, "If you keep
your hands out of your pockets they will get full, but if you keep them
in, your pockets will be empty." Now, both your hands are in your
pockets, so all that ought to go in is running to waste. Isn't that so?"

"Well, suppose it is," said Blasi, angrily. "Now give me what you promised
me."

"I gave it to you this very minute. I said you'd better take your hands
out of your pockets, and then your earnings would run in. That's good
advice and worth more than five francs.

"What stuff! No one ever knows how to take you," grumbled Blasi.

"It wouldn't help you to take me, if you did not take your hands out too,"
said Judith, "but never mind, I have really something good for you," and
Judith motioned to him to come nearer. "Would you like to have a nice
well-washed shirt for Sunday? I will do one up for you if you will tell me
something."

That was an offer worth listening to. Sunday was a wretched day for Blasi,
for when he had turned his two shirts and worn them both on both sides, he
had never a clean one for Sunday. He had no one to wash for him. His
mother was dead, and his father had enough else to spend for, without the
washing for a grown-up son. Blasi's money went for other things than
washing, and he was not fond of doing it for himself.