V
Alison had then to lay out the second five hundred, or £6 5s., on herself and herself alone. This was easier. She and her father spent three afternoons among the old furniture shops of Kensington and the Brompton Road, and at last came upon the very thing they were looking for in the back room of a shop close to the Oratory, kept by an elderly Jewish lady with a perfectly gigantic nose and rings on every finger.
This was an old bureau writing-desk, with drawers, and a flap to pull down to write on, and lots of pigeon-holes, and a very strong lock. Also a secret drawer. After some bargaining Mr. Muirhead got it for six pounds, which left five shillings for writing paper and sealing-wax and blotting-paper and nibs.
And that was an end of the thousand threepenny bits, as the balance-sheet on the opposite page shows.
At least, not quite the end, as I will tell you. The face of the old Jewess, when the time came to pay for the bureau and Alison took forty-eight little packets of ten threepenny bits each out of her bag and laid them on the table, was a picture of perplexity and amusement.
“Well, ma tear, what’s that?” she asked.
“Four hundred and eighty threepenny bits—six pounds,” said Alison.
“But, ma tear, what will I do with all the little money?”
“It’s all I’ve got,” said Alison.
“You see,” said Mr. Muirhead—and then he told the old lady with the big nose the story.
STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
First Account—For other People.
| Threepences. | £ | s. | d. | |
| A year’s flowers for mother, twice a week, at 3d. a bunch | 104 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| The Sphere for a year | 104 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Postage of same to a lighthouse | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Odd threepenny bits given to unhappy people in the streets, etc. | 50 | 0 | 12 | 6 |
| Tobacco and pipes to thirty sandwichmen, at 3d. each | 30 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Three Christmas puddings for the cabmen’s shelter near De Vere Gardens, at 2s. 6d. | 30 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Ten Fagg children, at 1s. each | 40 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Two pipes for Jack and Willy Fagg, at 1s. | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Two pounds tea for Mrs. Jack and Mrs. Willy, at 2s. | 16 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Mittens for cabmen, etc. | 30 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Sixty picture postcards for the Smith family at 1d., and postage at ½d. | 30 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Silver collar for Jimmie, with engraving | 50 | 0 | 12 | 6 |
| —— | —————— | |||
| 500 | £6 | 5 | 0 | |
| Second Account—For Alison Muirhead herself. | ||||
| Threepences. | £ | s. | d. | |
| Old Bureau | 480 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Writing paper, etc. | 20 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| —— | —————— | |||
| 500 | 6 | 5 | 0 | |
| First account total | 500 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| —— | —————— | |||
| Grand total | 1000 | £12 | 10 | 0 |
| ==== | ============ | |||
| Audited and found correct, | ||||
| (Signed) Thomas W. Cathcart. | ||||
And what do you think she did? “Well, ma tear,” she said, “I can’t let you go away without something left, in case you met a poor beggar in the street. You must take back one of those little packets to go on with, as a present from me;” and she picked up one and placed it in Alison’s hand, and Alison took it gladly.
And that was the beginning of a new Threepenny Trust, for Mr. Cathcart also contributed a little heap, and Mr. Muirhead henceforward made a point of saving every threepenny bit that he received in change (and I believe that sometimes he asked specially for them when he went to his bank) and bringing them home for Alison’s fund; and Uncle Mordaunt must have done the same, for the last time he came to dinner he said to Alison, “I wish you’d get rid of this rubbish for me,” and handed her seventeen of the little coins.
So you see that there is every chance of Mr. James Thomson’s kind scheme going on for a long time yet; but, in so far as his own thousand threepenny bits are concerned, the story is done.
RODERICK’S PROS.