s, it cost him
a wrench somewhere to take coppers at the counter from very poor folk
who perhaps made up the odd halfpenny in farthings, and looked at the
coins reluctantly as they laid them down. More than once, he said, "Oh
never mind the ha'penny," and was met with a look--not of gratitude but
of blank amazement. Allchin happened to be a witness of one such
incident, and, in the first moment of privacy, ventured a respectful
yet a most energetic, protest. "It's the kindness of your 'eart, sir,
and if anybody knows how much of that you have, I'm sure it's me, and I
ought to be the last to find fault with it. But that'll never do behind
the counter, sir, never! Why, just think. The profit on what that woman
bought was just three farthings." He detailed the computation. "And
there you've been and given her a whole ha'penny, so that you've only
one blessed farthing over on the whole transaction! That ain't
business, sir; that's charity; and Jollyman's ain't a charitable
institution. You really must not, sir. It's unjust to yourself." And
Will, with an uneasy shrug, admitted his folly. But he was ashamed to
the core. Only in the second half-year did he really accustom himself
to disregard a customer's poverty. He had thought the thing out, faced
all its most sordid aspects. Yes, he was fighting with these people for
daily bread; he and his could live only if his three farthings of
profit were plucked out of that toil worn hand of charwoman or
sempstress. Accept the necessity, and think no more of it. He was a man
behind the counter; he saw face to face the people who supported him.
With this exception had not things been just the same when he sat in
the counting-house at the sugar refinery? It was an unpleasant truth,
which appearances had formerly veiled from him.

With the beginning of his second winter came a new anxiety, a new
source of bitter and degrading reflections. At not more than five
minutes' walk away, another grocer started business; happily no great
capitalist, but to all appearances a man of enterprise who knew what he
was about. Morning and evening, Warburton passed the new shop and felt
his very soul turn sour in the thought that he must do what in him lay
to prevent that man from gaining custom; if he could make his business
a failure, destroy all his hopes, so much the better. With Allchin, he
held long and eager conferences. The robust assistant was of course
troubled by no scruples; he warmed to the