The Doll and Her Friends | Page 4

not discover; but the
boy pronounced it to be 'just the thing,' and willingly paid down its

price. I followed him with my eyes as he walked about with his great
box under his arm, looking from side to side, till he caught sight of
another boy rather younger than himself, advancing from an opposite
corner.
'Why, Geoffrey,' exclaimed my first friend, 'where have you been all
this time? I have been hunting every where for you.'
Geoffrey did not immediately answer, his mouth being, as I perceived,
quite full. When at last he could open his lips, he said, 'Will you have a
cheesecake?'
'No, thank you,' replied his friend. 'We must go home to dinner so soon,
that you will scarcely have time to choose your things. Where have you
been?'
'At the pastrycook's stall,' answered Geoffrey; 'and I must go back
again before I can buy any thing. I left my five shillings there to be
changed.'
The boys returned together to the stall, and I saw its mistress hand a
small coin to Geoffrey.
'Where is the rest?' said he.
'That is your change, sir,' she replied.
'Why, you don't mean that those two or three tarts and jellies cost four
and sixpence!' he exclaimed, turning as red as the rosiest doll at my
side.
'I think you will find it correct, sir,' answered the shopkeeper. 'Two
jellies, sixpence each, make one shilling; two custards, sixpence each,
two shillings; a bottle of ginger-beer, threepence, two and threepence;
one raspberry cream, sixpence, two and ninepence; three gooseberry
tarts, threepence, three shillings; two strawberry tarts, three and
twopence; two raspberry ditto, three and fourpence; four cheesecakes,
three and eightpence; two Bath buns, four shillings; and one lemon ice,

four and sixpence.'
'What a bother!' said Geoffrey, as he pocketed the small remains of his
fortune. 'I wish I could give her some of the tarts back again, for they
weren't half so nice as they looked, except just the first one or two.'
'Because you were only hungry for the first one or two,' said the other
boy. 'But it can't be helped now; come and spend the sixpence better.'
'There won't be any thing worth buying for sixpence,' said Geoffrey
gloomily, as he shuffled in a lazy manner towards my stall.
'I want a spade,' said he.
Several were produced, but they cost two shillings or half-a-crown.
There were little wooden spades for sixpence; but from those he turned
with contempt, saying they were only fit for babies. Nothing at our
table suited him, and he walked towards our opposite neighbour, who
sold books, maps, &c. On his asking for a dissected map, all the
countries of the world were speedily offered to his choice; but alas! the
price was again the obstacle. The cheapest map was half-a-crown; and
Geoffrey's sixpence would buy nothing but a childish puzzle of Old
Mother Hubbard. Geoffrey said it was a great shame that every thing
should be either dear or stupid.
'Can't you lend me some money, Ned?' continued he.
'I can't, indeed,' replied the other; 'mine all went in this box of tools.
Suppose you don't spend the sixpence at all now, but keep it till you get
some more.'
'No, I won't do that; I hate saving my money.'
So saying, he wandered from stall to stall, asking the price of every
thing, as if his purse was as full as his stomach.
'How much is that sailor kite?' 'Two shillings, sir.'--'How much is that
bat?' 'Seven and sixpence.'--'How much is that wooden box with secret

drawer?' 'Three shillings.'
'How provoking!' he exclaimed. 'I want heaps of things, and this stupid
sixpence is no good at all.'
'It is better than nothing,' said Edward. 'It is not every day that one's
aunt sends one five shillings, to spend in the bazaar; and in common
times sixpence is not to be despised. After all, there are plenty of things
it will buy. Do you want a top?'
'No; I've got four.'
'Garden seeds?'
'What is the use of them, when I can't get a spade?'
'Steel pens? You said this morning you could not write with quills.'
'I don't like buying those kind of things with my own money.'
'A box? Yesterday you wanted a box.'
'I don't care for boxes that won't lock, and I can't get one with a lock
and key for sixpence.'
'A knife?'
'Sixpenny knives have only one blade; I want two.'
'Sealing-wax? wafers? a penholder? a paint-box? India-rubber?
pencils?'
'Stupid things!'
'A ball? You might have a very good ball.'
'Not a cricket ball; and I don't care for any other.'
'What a particular fellow you are! I am sure I could always find

something to spend sixpence in. String? One is always wanting string.
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