g to send even the smallest orders. Isn't that nice of him--such
a distance! Billings was quite insolent to me the day before yesterday,
when I asked him to send; yet it was nearly a two-shilling order. Never
go into that shop again, Bertha. It's really quite a pleasure to buy of
Mr. Jollyman; he knows how to behave; I really almost felt as if I was
talking to some one of our own class. Without his apron, he must be a
thorough gentleman."

Bertha could not restrain a laugh.

"How thoughtless of him to wear an apron at all!" she exclaimed
merrily. "Couldn't one suggest to him discreetly, that _but_ for the
apron--"

"Don't be ridiculous, Bertha!" interrupted her mother. "You always make
nonsense of what one says. Mr. Jollyman is a shopkeeper, and it's just
because he doesn't forget that, after all, that his behaviour is so
good. Do you remember that horrid Stokes, in King's Road? There was a
man who thought himself too good for his business, and in reality was
nothing but an underbred, impertinent creature. I can hear his 'Yes,
Mrs. Cross--no, Mrs. Cross--thank you, Mrs. Cross'--and once, when I
protested against an overcharge, he cried out, 'Oh, my _dear_ Mrs.
Cross!' The insolence of that man! Now, Mr. Jollyman--"

It was not long before Bertha had an opportunity of seeing this
remarkable shopkeeper, and for once she was able to agree with her
mother. Mr. Jollyman bore very little resemblance to the typical
grocer, and each visit to his shop strengthened Bertha's suspicion that
he had not grown up in this way of life. It cost her some constraint to
make a very small purchase of him, paying a few coppers, and still more
when she asked him if he had nothing cheaper than this or that; all the
more so that Mr. Jollyman seemed to share her embarrassment, lowering
his voice as if involuntarily, and being careful not to meet her eye.
One thing Bertha noticed was that, though the grocer invariable
addressed her mother as "madam," in speaking to _her_ he never used the
grocerly "miss" and when, by chance, she heard him bestow this
objectionable title upon a servant girl who was making purchases at the
same time, Bertha not only felt grateful for the distinction, but saw
in it a fresh proof of Mr. Jollyman's good breeding.

The winter passed, and with the spring came events in which Bertha was
interested. Mr. Elvan, who for his health's sake spent the winter in
the south-west of France, fell so ill early in the year that Ro