"No; it does not want vigour."
"Does it fail to be attractive? Is it commonplace?"
"It is not that I mean," said Mr. Brown. "But—"
"Is it not simple? The articles are merely named, with their prices."
"But, George, we haven't got 'em. We couldn't hold such a quantity. And if we had them, we should be ruined to sell them at such prices as that. I did want to do a genuine trade in stockings."
"And so you shall, sir. But how will you begin unless you attract your customers?"
"You have put your prices altogether too low," said Jones. "It stands to reason you can't sell them for the money. You shouldn't have put the prices at all;—it hampers one dreadful. You don't know what it is to stand down there among 'em all, and tell 'em that the cheap things haven't come."
"Say that they've all been sold," said Robinson.
"It's just the same," argued Jones. "I declare last Saturday night I didn't think my life was safe in the crowd."
"And who brought that crowd to the house?" demanded Robinson. "Who has filled the shop below with such a throng of anxious purchasers?"