slabs of marble.
Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning.
That s no good.
Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare.
Ah, but I was recommended to you.
Who by?
The landlord of the Alpha.
Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen.
Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?
To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the
salesman.
Now, then, mister, said he, with his head cocked and his arms akimbo,
what are you driving at? Let s have it straight, now.
It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the geese
which you supplied to the Alpha.
Well then, I shan t tell you. So now!
Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don t know why you should
be so warm over such a trifle.
Warm! You d be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. When I
pay good money for a good article there should be an end of the
business; but it s Where are the geese? and Who did you sell the
geese to? and What will you take for the geese? One would think they
were the only geese in the world, to hear the fuss that is made over
them.
Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been making
160