So far from disliking this work or finding it tedious, he liked it very
much, indeed he would have liked anything which did not overtax his
physical strength, and which held out a prospect of bringing him in
money. Ellen would not let him buy anything on the occasion of this
sale; she said he had better see one sale first and watch how prices
actually went. So at twelve o'clock when the sale began, he saw the lots
sold which he and Ellen had marked, and by the time the sale was over he
knew enough to be able to bid with safety whenever he should actually
want to buy. Knowledge of this sort is very easily acquired by anyone
who is in _bona fide_ want of it.
But Ellen did not want him to buy at auctions--not much at least at
present. Private dealing, she said, was best. If I, for example, had
any cast-off clothes, he was to buy them from my laundress, and get a
connection with other laundresses, to whom he might give a trifle more
than they got at present for whatever clothes their masters might give
them, and yet make a good profit. If gentlemen sold their things, he was
to try and get them to sell to him. He flinched at nothing; perhaps he
would have flinched if he had had any idea how _outre_ his proceedings
were, but the very ignorance of the world which had ruined him up till
now, by a happy irony began to work its own cure.
Pages:
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554