Even a green boy like Stephen could not fail to wonder why, if Mr Cripps was as hard up as he had just described himself, he should now be so anxious to represent himself as not in want of money.
“Please, I want to know the price.”
“As if I was a-going to name prices to a young gentleman like you! Please yourself about it. I shall not be disappointed if you gives me only eighteenpence, and if you thinks twelve bob is handsome, well, let it be. I can struggle on somehow.”
This was uncomfortable for Stephen, who, too green, fortunately, to comprehend the drift of Mr Cripps’s gentle hints, again asked that he would name a price.
This time Mr Cripps answered more precisely.
“Well, that there bat is worth a guinea, if you want to know, but I’ll say a sovereign for cash down.”
Stephen whistled a long-drawn whistle of dismay.
“A sovereign! I can’t pay all that! I thought it would be about seven shillings!”
“Did you? You may think what you like, but that’s my price, and you are lucky to get it at that.”
“I shall have to send it back. I can’t afford so much,” said Stephen, despondingly.