'
'Ah--thank you--'
'I've noticed,' went on the luckless apothecary, his bosom heaving with a
sense of his wrongs, 'that you're a pretty large customer of the
post-office, and it seems to me'--he meant to speak jocosely--'that it
would be only fair if you gave _me_ a turn now and then. I get next to
nothing out of _this_, you know. I should be much obliged if you--'
The man of few words was looking at him, half in surprise, half in
indignation, and when the chemist blundered into silence he spoke:--
'I really have nothing to do with that. As a matter of fact, I was on the
point of making a little purchase in your shop, but I decidedly object to
this kind of behaviour, and shall make my purchase elsewhere.'
He strode solemnly into the street, and Mr. Farmiloe, unconscious of all
about him, glared at vacancy.
Whether from the angry tradesman, or from some lady with whom Mr. Farmiloe
had been abrupt, a complaint did presently reach the postal authorities,
with the result that an official called at the chemist's shop. The
interview was unpleasant. It happened that Mr. Farmiloe (not for the first
time) had just then allowed himself to run out of certain things always in
demand by the public--halfpenny stamps, for instance.
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