Hosea Bringle stood up, holding by the counter, fast asleep, and did not see it.
"That bad shilling," said Jenny Hart, "will be known again, I'll warrant, for I run the file across the edge. You had better put it in Hosea Bringle's bad money drawer, that last slit in the corner; all the counterfeit money goes there." "Powers on earth!" thought Ira Elkado, "did the little black-eyed devil see me slip the shilling in?"
No, Jenny Hart did not see him do it, but she suspected he would. She knew that he was a capital hand to buy goods at auction, and it was for this purpose she hired him—we may as well say she hired him, for it was all her doings. Martin Barton had nothing to do but approve; Jenny Hart, therefore, put up with many things from him.
"Mrs. Martin Barton," said her husband, "what a long holiday those children have; how noisy they are, jumping and screaming like mad things; and old Hosea Bringle with your night cap on—only look there."
"No, it is my cap," said Jenny Hart, "let the poor old man play, for once in his life; only think how long he has been nailed to this counter. Just make a codicil to your will, Mr. Martin Barton, and give the poor old soul one hundred dollars a year for life—I am only too glad to get him out of the shop. By twelve to-morrow we shall have two nice young lads—if I can only remember their names—I wish people would give their children plain names. Oh, I forgot, Mrs. Armstrong will be in town to-morrow; I have hired the house next door, as you told me, and here is the lease. I paid one year's rent, you see, in advance."
"Good," said Martin Barton. "Excellent," said his wife. The back door stood open, and happy Hosea Bringle was playing sleep with the children, while they were tickling his ears with a straw, and then he would snap at the straw, which made the
