"They won't buy anything
(unless it's a box of matches). They only help tradesmen to cheat when
they're 'selling off.'"
"I beg your pardon," said Miss Chislett, "I have bought most charming
things for a farthing each."
"So have I," said I, turning round on my chair, and joining in the
conversation, which seemed less purposeless after I began to take part
in it. Leo looked at us both with a puzzled air.
"Frying-pans, for instance," said Miss Chislett.
"--and gridirons," said I.
"Plates, knives, and forks," said the heiress.
"--and flat irons," I concluded; playing involuntarily with the blob
of lead which still hung at my watch-chain.
Polly had finished her performance, and was now standing near us. She
understood the allusion, and laughed.
"Do _you_ know what they're talking about?" asked Sir Lionel, going
up to her. I sat down by the heiress.
"Were you ever at Oakford?" she asked, turning her grey eyes on me.
She spoke almost abruptly, and with a touch of imperiousness that
suddenly recalled to me where I had seen those eyes before.
"Certainly," said I, "and at the tinsmith's."
"What were you doing there?" she asked, and after all these years
there was no mistaking the accent and gesture of the little lady of
the grey beaver.
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