“Yes ... I’ll take five guineas for it ... cash down.”

“The man’ll pay you when he comes to fetch it, ma’am.”

“I thought you said cash down.”

“Well, and ain’t that cash down enough for you? Wot do you expect? ... I’ll send the man down in a couple of hours.”

“All right, then ... good afternoon.”

At the door he said:

“By the way, ma’am, I’ll keep that offer of sixty guineas for the piano open for a few days ... so that if ...”

She replied hastily: “Oh, I’m not going to sell that.”

“Very well, ma’am ... only I’ll give sixty for it if you should want to get rid of it.”

Then she came back to the piano and looked at it, and did not know whether to laugh or to cry.