"Six and a half," and the speaker again appears absorbed in meditation.
"Give thee six," says the customer, rising as if to go.
"Wait, thou art very dear to us; to thee alone will I give a special price, six and a quarter."
"No, no," replies the customer, shaking his finger before his face, as though to emphasize his refusal of even such special terms.
"Al-l-láh!" piously breathes the dealer, as he gazes abstractedly out of the door, presently adding in the same devout tone, "There is no god but God! God curse the infidels!"
"Come, I'll give thee six and an okea"--of which latter six and a half go to the 'quarter' peseta or franc of which six were offered.
"No, six and five is the lowest I can take."
The might-be purchaser made his last offer in a half-rising posture, and is now nearly erect as he says, "Then I can't buy; give it me for six and three," sitting down as though the bargain were struck.
"No, I never sell that quality for less than six and four, and it's a thing I make no profit on; you know that."
The customer doesn't look as though he did, and rising, turns to go.
"Send a man to carry it away," says the dealer.
"No, at six and four!" and the customer goes away.
"Send the man, it is thine," is hastily called after him, and in a few moments he returns with a Jewish porter, and pays his "six and three."
So our worthy trader does business all day, and seems to thrive on it. Occasionally a friend drops in to chat and not to buy, and now and then there is a beggar; here is one.
An aged crone she is, of most forbidding countenance, swathed in rags, it is a wonder she can keep together. She leans on a formidable staff, and in a piteous voice, "For the face of the Lord," and "In the name of my Lord Slave-of-the-Able" (Mulai Abd el Káder, a favourite saint), she begs something "For God." One copper suffices to induce her to call down untold blessings on the head of the donor, and she trudges away in the mud, barefooted, repeating her entreaties till they sound almost a wail, as she turns the next corner. But beggars who can be so easily disposed of at the rate of a hundred and ninety-five for a shilling can hardly be considered troublesome.
A respectable-looking man next walks in with measured tread, and leaning towards us, says almost in a whisper--