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He was out of breath by that time, as he might well be, and his heart seemed to jerk faster than the little shop-bell, as it quivered and jingled behind him with his hasty shutting of the door. 'Hallo, old chap! said Mr Pancks. 'Altro, old boy! What's the matter? Mr Baptist, or Signor Cavalletto, understood English now almost as well as Mr Pancks himself, and could speak it very well too.
Then she began insistently, 'Well, does it matter to you? This deplorable question viewed from the standpoint of a Baptist elder passed unnoticed, for with the last words the shop-bell rang, and Purcell went off, transformed on the instant into the sharp, attentive tradesman. Lucy sat wiping her cups mechanically for a little while.
Lewisham opened his Shakespeare and read from a mark onward that mark, by-the-bye, was in the middle of a scene while he consumed mechanically a number of slices of bread and whort jam. Mrs. Munday watched him over her spectacles and thought how bad so much reading must be for the eyes, until the tinkling of her shop-bell called her away to a customer.
He had not gone many steps when he heard the shop-bell ring; the woman came running after him. Her eyes were full of tears. What fountain had been opened, I cannot tell; perhaps only that of sympathy with the hungry youth. "Tak th' loaf," she said again, but in a very different voice this time, and held it out to him. "Dunnot be vexed with a poor woman.
Half-an-hour had passed since the shop-bell had last tinkled, and Marietta was beginning to think of making Jim a flying call, when she heard his cane rapturously banging the floor above.
She regarded it as an hereditary trait; and so, perhaps, it was, but unfortunately a morbid one, such as is often generated in families that remain long above the surface of society. Before they left the breakfast-table, the shop-bell rang sharply, and Hepzibah set down the remnant of her final cup of tea, with a look of sallow despair that was truly piteous to behold.
They stood there with their noses pressed against the glass for some time, wondering wot had 'appened to Sam, but by-and-by a little boy went in and then they began to 'ave an idea wot Sam's little game was. As the shop-bell went the door of a little parlour at the back of the shop opened, and a stout and uncommon good-looking woman of about forty came out.
What he could make of it Booty saw in an instant when Mr. Ransome left the room at the summons of the shop-bell. Ranny, with a smile of positive affection, watched him as he went. "Queer old percher, ain't he?" Ranny said. Then he let himself go, addressing himself to Booty. "The old Porcupine may seem to you a trifle melancholy and morose. You can't see what's goin' on in his mind.
They went on like that all the evening, and every time the shop-bell went and the widow 'ad to go out to serve a customer they said in w'ispers wot they thought of each other; and once when she came back rather sudden Ginger 'ad to explain to 'er that 'e was showing Peter Russet a scratch on his knuckle.
'They say all things come to him who waits 'More than he's bargained for, eh, Aunt? laughed Fanny rather bitterly. The poor aunt, this bitterness grieved her for her niece. They were interrupted by the ping of the shop-bell, and Harry's call of 'Right! But as he did not come in at once, Fanny, feeling solicitous for him presumably at the moment, rose and went into the shop.
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