W. Pett Ridge

“ COUNTER ATTRACTIONS Half the time I don't trouble to look up at them, especially when I happen to be busy. They put their money underneath the brass wire; they ask for what they want; it's given to them, and off they go. If any other plan was adopted we should never get through the work at our office, and there would be complaints to answer, and the superintendent might send some one along to kick up a row. As Miss Maitland says, when all the customers are made on one pattern everything will be much easier to manage ”

“ Mother told me about one or two half-engagements that occurred before she married poor father, and gave me one piece of advice which she said was worth its weight in gold, namely, that the moment you saw a young man getting fond of you the best plan was to pretend to be indifferent and in this way to make him see that there was a lot of hard work in front of him. ”

“ I kept my temper, but I daresay I managed to say what I wanted to say—I generally do—and eventually she took the telegram back and decided to take a cab to Charing Cross and send it from there.
“Shilling'sworth of your best stamps,” he requested; “I want them to match my necktie.”
“Pennies or halfpennies?” I asked. You can understand I wasn't in the mood for nonsense just then.
“Which are most fashionable just now, miss? I don't want to look odd or conspicuous.” ”

“ I agreed. “Mother met father at a dance at the Athenæum up at the end of Camden Road. Of course a steward introduced them, but to all intents and purposes they were strangers.”
“A man goes on,” he said, still thoughtfully, “fighting pretty hard and not giving much attention to the other sex and all at once he catches sight of a face, through, say, brass trelliswork, and instantly he decides 'That's the girl for me.' And he thinks of nothing else, can't keep away from the neighbourhood of her, and——” He put his hands over his eyes and bent down. ”