The Storyteller.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7838, 2 June 1905, Page 4

The Storyteller.

S- - A BUSINESS BOOH. <?'- (^Continued.) ■; • For sonio months tbo little woman - worhnl iii the factory during the day __, and hurried home and boiled her toffc- the oiiy night, and was in the square the next. Fortunately, finding-,the stall a profit idle business, she gave up her <• «ur*. nr.d produced her Roods during - the day, and was under the protective " : of. Tipkins during! the evening. T-_ "Are you waking the gent's roughly drops, Minnie ? " said Tipkins on the &>. Sunday, when he came in to have his i usual chat" with her father. g. " Been talkin' to the gent, Law an' iif Ordf r ■>■• & " tie was talking to mo.* 4 jS* " Yes ; an' what did he say ?'i g? " Said ye were the lady o' DidsP* dler's Square." &f ■"Oh ! did he ? Welt, you keep your, gi ayes open, Tipkins. I ajn't irtav- ]££ iiy any nonsence ! " jg| " Minnie's got a notion, Ralph, I'm S.* 1 - in- the square 'Cause of 'er. FU be Icouiin' to you for my wages, Minnie, I will." And he winked at Ralph. " Ye ain't sharp at winking, Tipkins ; but tell me, is "the . gent straight ? " . "I'll see he ain't crooked, and I'll >■ send my daughter Lottie this week,, to help to put his coughdrops up." Tipkins did not tell the girl that he |S had impressed on the stranger the ss>J- horrible iniquity of an able-bodied g'" man planting himself in a place where gj*' he was ruining the pi that a girl—of b fcunily ; nocJid he gk say anything of <his surprise when the &? showed some concern!

Si. But tie not only provided help to 5% ' pack the goods—he also had a man handy on ihe Saturday morning to convey them to the square. k C - "Always usefullo have a friend at i£L Court! " he laughingly said, when. £"■*-, she thanked, hini. $ At the same timo as »n the previa ious Saturday. ..the same performance =,;>„ with the boxes and stand was gone &j>- through. - 'i?' "Good evening. Miss! Got the si* goods for me?" *' They're hero all right, sir, in •, them baskets."" ■\; lie called his man over and had gfc'- them shifted. The policeman stood **" 'near by, -watching- a tipsy- couple ~ < hiving an argument. -S. L j. The frock-coated youth' mounted his S~' hnprovistd platform. Young and s|'' i heaUhy-looking, with an easy flow of talk, he presented to Mines' nic a figure of considerable attrat;B& tivencs.

Bj|* T *"J am h ,ro again; ladies and gemIg: Eleinen. Now, you are feeling better,. H* -these, cf.. jqu who honoured me with Kg" your' favours last Saturday. Tes, I Bjv am sure you do. But I noticed some |fc:' of >ou had a bail cough last week Bfe, mtl, and jou haven't got rid of it jet. Fred, hand that suffering old IR'-.mother a few of our coughdrops ! " Bj-=- Minnie was propped against her By- .(stand, and for the first time in her Kf' business career was neglecting a cusK§J,;f.omer. K' "\ on 11 find these do you a power of Eg 1 ! good, midaiu. Now, I hope you are gjlgr n ot expecting mo Io be offering my mixture, I impdrt the most ■HgtJinpartant ingredient direct from the gSjfiruwers in South America. A cpnis overdue, and my stock is Heunin out, so 1 am reluctantly coui■BfjfellcJ to wait its arrival. Ido not Hj||- deal in substitutes. I use the real Bp» article or noth ng." BEr Minnie's attention was vigorourf.y afcL called to hir Customer, whom, she and turned again to listen : WjM "> But it pained me to hear thos? SS&bicktiig coughs ; and it occurred to HggLiKe that you want something to ease ■gPJCtheui You want a lilricant—a pleasHSpfant, soothing ilixjr—which can "be Eg.'cateiJy cairivd m the pocket, or kept Hgjjkby ,b <-' l«d&idc at night. ■p*? '.' Ladies and gentlemen, I have IjjF', what you wont. 1 do not make it gfc inyselfi but I h u ve a friend who unEgj* deretands this branch of the healing fig" Minnie l-lusvd scarlet at this fright--I*7 , ful departure from the truth. ■•', "An can, with deft, graceful finis*" geie—" jjjk" She instinctively glanced at he* j-, small shapely hands, hardened by C'-Jjard work. I~ ■' And commanding knowledge, conto this article, while containing )g all excellent curativo properties, the r-Lesquisiic flavour of a delicious sweetfyineai. fc '• Indies and gentlemen, I wish' I fe, could gi\e this absolutely away to |i-Mio uiuititude whom I see around me. the scramble would be too groat. ;__- We must be careful not to commit a. j--.breach of tho peace. So, to make distribution orderly, !• will do f the next best thing; I will give to of >ou, for the' small ssum ot "ji-one penny—one penny, ladies and genii', tlemen-a packet ol an article which g. will be a pleasuroto eat—wliich will as pleasant, 1 assure you, as the ?". sweats you buy over the" way. 1 <^-bought some of Minnie Bell's" sweets >jand found them delicious." - o Minnie busied herself among her t .yjexxis, and felt an ever increasing ingtf -teresl in this amazing youth. >M A for a Packet that will &L save you many resitless hours during Ip.Uie still watches of. the Bight, and ||i -poss.bly save you from the deadly 1^. germs of that terrible foe of theihuj|E£man race, tuberculosis, g-s.. " Fred, hand a few round. I do fIE-n°t want to deceive you-ifs practi-Hg"-cally a present I'm making you. (One ladies and: gentlemen. Thank ||V y,ou sir—thank y 0 «. Two, sir 1 Bight g* you are; thank you. Kindly forgive H*. my slowness. I've jonly one pair of B. fends, but the night it young. The sy* HWJ wet teasons have been verv sore

on the throat and lungs. Thank] you. I never was among such a, dis'.riminqting people. " Give the policeman a few, Fred. Nothing beats them.for night duty, constable : you should alwuj s curry a packet with you. A little patience ladies and gentlemen. Thau you. Tho weather has undoubtedly been very damp Ittcly. Thank you. •' Now I'm getting near the end, and I'm not making a fortune.. Thank jou. Ah, here we are at the last. "No; I'm not going to sell this one. I'm rather hoarse after so much talking, and 1 never care to bo without them. Good-night, latiiesj and gentlemen, und thank you for your patronage." The crowd quickly drifted away, and when the last iqurious one had gone he walked slowly o\er to Uinnie's stall, '• Wefe-h me up a pound of toffee. miss, while I talk to you. I don't want to giv& either of us away." Mirn'c slowlj- weighed up the goods. "What do you think of that bit of selling ? " " You're a real knec'i-out. But it wasn't medicine they were buying." " They thought it was ; and maybe it's a deal better than a lot they buy. Now, miss,(have I dealt quite straight with you ? "■ " Ajn't you coming back to tho s.juure ? " , "Having made a friend ol the enemy, I don't want to undo that," " I ain't objecting, if you don't get in my way like last week." " Then I may come back." A fortnight later Minnie received a letter. It was somewhat of an event in her life, so she viewed the envelope carefully before opening it. '• What's he like ? " queried the)

mother. " Be pertickr, lass, be as,. pcrticler as yer mother was when she married me," chaffed her father. " "Hain't no young man," she retorted. But she was wrong. She slipped a hairpin along the flap and took forth a money-orderr and the following letter : ••'Miss Minnie Beil, Toffee Maker* " Dear Madam,—Could you send me, in a week's time, a thousand bags of the coughdrops, halfpenny size? Make them exact same weight as those I sold in Biddlcr's Square. I" enclcss money-order to pay for same at the rate of a halfpenny per bag» your usual retail price. I trust this is agreeable to you. " I may say that I myself was a buyer .that night, and have since discovered that I told more truths about the goods than is usually done under similar sircumstances.

" I will pay the curriagc. " Youis very sincerely, ARTHUR BEACHLEY." " He's a rum 'un, and no error," cpmme-ited her father. ." Why, you'll be havin' to get a factory, Minnie." " Seens as if I'll have to, with wholesale orders. We're making money,, dad. I'll be buying you a Hath chair, with noomatic wheels, some o' these fine days." Minnie made and bagged the coughdroi s ; got a case from the grocer to pack them in, and cajoled Tipkins to ask the railway company to lift them. Sh*j received an acknowledgement of their receipt, and thought a good many private thoughts about tho merchant she had found. Arn'ving home one night, about a month afttr she had sent the order, she found Mr Beacbley sitting chatting with her old people. • How did you jet or. with them drops ? " " Famous. Every one of them went oft like a crack. I could have done with more, but I know you have a lot of work to do, and I did not want to trouble you too uiucH." " You're a toft at selling. How did you get my address ? " " From your good friend the policeman. Had> to take my affidavit I meant no ill to you, Jlits Bell." Minnie threw up her head, as if to say B'ic could look after herself. " Ice, Uop that ' nii?s ' . 1 ain't a lady." He looked a compliment at her, but had more tact than to utter it. ■"•Then I'll call you Minnie. I've come on business to-night. You! waste your time in Diddler's Square. Now, I can sell your stuff at double the money you get for it, and sell any quantity you can make. I've saved a little bit at my business, cni I've steered clear of the iqoinpany the street-selling lays one open 10. " I'm willing to back my savings in a partnership with you, if you are, wi.ling> You've got the fingers and braina U've got the tongue. 1 don't aire if you do not have a: copper to put against mine. 11l go share and share with you." , v Wha t ar e you getting a t, sir ? " 'l'm not getting at anything that isn t straight, Minnie. You may got to know me well enough to find out that. I'll give you every, chance, lhink it over, and I'll come back tomorrow." The girl and her father and mother talked it over from every point ot view, and decided that Minnio should embark on the vin ure if Tipkins thought well of it. Tipkins did think the risk a fair one, and said he'd keep his eyes on things. ',- m , gl u d y° uv e. settled to join me, Beaehfcy said when he came nest day. " m put £SO ; n thc £ ness, and we'll go to a lawyer and have it put in order. The policeman gave me the name of one." To a lawyer they went, with Tip- £!!.! a ;l a / Unc * s; : and the following week the firm of Beacbley and Bell were turning out the now "world famous" coughdrops. her ; sulT!n ri ;h d UttlC «•*•» !-*ept nci stall m the square in the evening* as well, until.sh, came lok "■ exactly what Mr Benchley "was getSfchbv nnT,V^: ihC beCaU »° M" ;d f er ' S Square knew lCe utt,e toffee-maker no more.