p which he had
furnished and laid out with such loving care, seemed a cunning trap to
devour his precious sovereigns week by week.

True, he had drawn some custom, but it was of the worst sort--that of
the unprincipled rogues who fatten upon tradesmen till the back of
their credit is broken, and then transfer their sinister custom to
another. Jonah recognized them with a grim smile, but he had taken
their work, glad of something to do, although he would never see the
colour of their money.

Meanwhile the weeks ran into a month, and Jonah had not paid expenses.
He could hold out for three months according to his calculation, but he
saw the end rapidly approaching, when he must retire covered with
ignominious defeat. He would have thrown up the sponge there and then,
but for the thought of the straight-limbed child in Cardigan Street,
for whom he wanted money--money to feed and clothe him for the world to
admire.

One Saturday night, weary of waiting for the custom that never came, he
closed the shop, and joined Ada, who was waiting on the footpath. They
sauntered along, Ada stopping every minute to look into the shop
windows, while Jonah, gloomy and taciturn, turned his back on the
lighted windows with impatience. Presently Ada gave a cry of delight
before the draper's.

"I say, Joe, that bonnet would suit the kid all to pieces. An' look at
the price! Only last week they was seven an' a kick."

Jonah turned and looked at the window. The bonnet, fluffy and absurd,
was marked with a ticket bearing an enormous figure 4 in red ink, and
beside it, faintly marked in pencil, the number 11.

"W'y don't yer say five bob, an' be done with it?" said Jonah.

"But it ain't five bob; it's only four an' eleven," insisted Ada,
annoyed at his stupidity.

"An' I suppose it 'ud be dear at five bob?" sneered Jonah.

"Any fool could tell yer that," snapped Ada.

Jonah included the whole feminine world in a shrug of the shoulders,
and turned impatiently on his heel. But Ada was not to be torn away.
She ran her eye over the stock, marvelling at the cheapness of
everything. Jonah, finding nothing better to do, lit a cigarette, and
turned a contemptuous eye on the bales of calico, cheap prints, and
flimsy lace displayed. Presently he began to study the tickets with
extraordinary interest. They were all alike. The shillings in
gigantic figures of red or black, and across the dividing line
elevenpence three-farthings pencille