He was a little,
wizened man, with a pair of horn spectacles, which he pushed high
upon his brow as his customer entered.
"Since my father has engaged to buy Sophia a ring," said Tristram to
himself, "I will get her a tulip. We will sit hand in hand and watch
it unfold."
The prospect so engaged his fancy that he entered and began a
sentence in excellent English. The shopman replied by shaking his
head and uttering a few unintelligible words.
This was dashing. Tristram cast about for a few seconds, and began
again in dog-Latin, a tongue which he had acquired in order to read
the herbals to Captain Barker on winter evenings. To his delight the
little man answered him promptly. Within a minute they were charmed
with each other; within two, they had the highest opinion of each
other; within ten, the counter was heaped with trays of the rarest
bulbs, insomuch that Tristram found a grave difficulty in choosing
that which should give the greatest pleasure to his Sophia. But,
alas, in changing clothes with his son, Captain Salt had found it
unnecessary to change breeches! Tristram put a hand into his pocket
and discovered that it contained one coin only--the shilling with
which he had been presented when forcibly enlisted in his Majesty's
Coldstream Guards.
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