'Pray don't stay to wrap
it up,' I exclaimed, 'my pockets are ample,' and my thanks were
profuse. Seizing the coveted treasure, I laid my twopence down on the
counter and walked straight forward in a contrary direction to that
by which I had entered, gladdened by the prospect that I was making
direct for the street. If anyone had arrested my progress for the
sake of further formalities, I should unquestionably have knocked
them down. But everyone must have seen the glare of defiant
desperation flashing from my restless eyes and no one dared to bar
my egress. As I emerged from that shop into Regent Street, I felt as
exhausted as if I had just bought a grand piano or a suite of
furniture. 'Really,' I said to my wife in conclusion, 'if I could
have foreseen all the trouble in store for me over buying this
little Japanese basket, price twopence, it would have been still
reposing with its companions in the corner of that magnificent shop
window in Regent Street.'"
She promised to prize it all the more on that account. And now, when
I look at that little Japanese basket, my mind wanders back to the
farthing's worth of pins I purchased in my old bachelor days.
SHAMUS O'BRIEN: A TALE OF '98.
BY J.
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