before and after speaking.

'Three an' six, please, sir.'

He rolled the things up again with a practised turn of the hand, and
said indifferently, glancing towards another box, 'Eighteenpence.'

'Oh, sir, we had two shillin's on the skirt not so long ago,' pleaded
Pennyloaf, with a subservient voice. 'Make it twoshillin's--please
do, sir!

The young man paid no attention; he was curling his moustache and
exchanging a smile of intelligence with his counter-companion with
respect to a piece of business the latter had in hand. Of a sudden
he turned and said sharply:

'Well, are you goin' to take it or not?'

Pennyloaf sighed and nodded.

'Got a 'apenny?' he asked.

'No.'

He fetched a cloth, rolled the articles in it very tightly, and
pinned them up; then he made out ticket and duplicate, handling his
pen with facile flourish, and having blotted the little piece of
card on a box of sand (a custom which survives in this conservative
profession), he threw it to the customer. Lastly, he counted out one
shilling and fivepenee halfpenny. The coins were sandy, greasy, and