“Do you sell matches all the time?” he asked.
“That’s what I have to do now. I tried to get into the newspaper business, but didn’t dare to jump on an’ off the cars same as the boys do, so couldn’t make very much at it.”
“It don’t strike me you’re earnin’ a great sight of money at what you’re doin’ now. Haven’t sold a thing since I’ve been standin’ here.”
“No,” she said with a half-suppressed sigh, “somehow people don’t seem to want to buy matches on the street. I got rid of ten cents’ worth to one man, though, this afternoon.’
“How much profit was there in the trade?”
The girl looked up at Josiah inquiringly.
The boy repeated his question in another form.
“How much money did you make when you sold that lot?”
“Oh! I get a couple of boxes for one cent an’ sell ’em for two, so half I take in is mine.”
“Do your folks live ’round here?”