“Half a fiddlestick,” said Jack promptly. “What have you got for a halfpenny?”
“Them’s halfpenny balls, whips, and dolls. Them churns and mugs is a halfpenny; and so’s the little tin plates. Them’s the halfpenny monkeys on sticks.”
“Now, Madame,” said Jack, “put that half-crown back, and give me a shilling. Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four. There are your presents; and now for the children!”
Madame showed a decided disposition to reward personal beauty, which Jack overruled at once.
“The prettiest? I see myself letting you! Church Sunday scholars is my tip; and I shall put them through the Catechism test. Look here, young un, what’s your name? Who gave you this name?”
“Ma godfeythers and godmoothers,” the young urchin began.
“That’ll do,” said Jack. “Take your whip, and be thankful. Now, my little lass, who gave you this name?”
“Me godfeythers——”
“All right. Take your doll, and drop a curtsy; and mind you don’t take the curtsy, and drop your doll. Now, my boy, tell me how many there be?”
“Ten.”