CHAPTER XVIII.
Taking the two-shilling-piece, I walked on and entered the small shop, where a clean-looking woman stood behind the counter. Opening a bottle of ginger-beer, she poured the contents into a glass, counting out the change for the florin while I drank. In the meantime Mr. Parsons was waiting directly outside the door, and the moment I reached his side he again gripped my arm.
'Change!' he muttered, whereupon I put the one and elevenpence into his shaky hand.
When we had walked a little farther, he stopped at another shop—a tobacconist's this time.
'Just go in there and buy me a box of wax lights,' he said, giving me half-a-crown.
Accordingly I entered the shop, where a young man was smoking a cigarette just within the door.
'A box of wax lights,' I cried, placing the money on the counter. Having given what I asked for, the man began to examine the coin. He rang it on the counter, he tried it with his teeth, and then he looked curiously into my face.
"'Take off your jacket,' Mr. Parsons said."
'Haven't you got any smaller change?' he asked.
'No,' I answered, and, with another curious glance, he examined the half-crown again, and finally gave me the change.