‘That will never do,’ said I, ‘more especially as I should be sure to be caught, not having made taking of things my trade; but I’ll tell you what I’ll do—try and exchange this book of yours for a Bible; who knows for what great things this same book of yours may serve?’ ‘Well, dear,’ said the old woman, ‘do as you please; I should like to see the—what do you call it?—Bible, and to read it, as you seem to think it true.’ ‘Yes,’ said I, ‘seem; that is the way to express yourself in this maze of doubt—I seem to think—these apples and pears seem to be—and here seems to be a gentleman who wants to purchase either one or the other.’ A person had stopped before the apple-woman’s stall, and was glancing now at the fruit, now at the old woman and myself; he wore a blue mantle, and had a kind of fur cap on his head; he was somewhat above the middle stature; his features were keen, but rather hard; there was a slight obliquity in his vision. Selecting a small apple, he gave the old woman a penny; then, after looking at me scrutinisingly for a moment, he moved from the booth in the direction of Southwark. ‘Do you know who that man is?’ said I to the old woman. ‘No,’ said she, ‘except that he is one of my best customers: he frequently stops, takes an apple, and gives me a penny; his is the only piece of money I have taken this blessed day. I don’t know him, but he has once or twice sat down in the booth with two strange-looking men—Mulattos, or Lascars, I think they call them.’ CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE BOUGHT AND EXCHANGED—QUITE EMPTY—A NEW FIRM—BIBLES—COUNTENANCE OF A LION—CLAP OF THUNDER—LOST IT—CLEARLY A RIGHT—GODDESS OF THE MINT