"It seems to me," said Mr Stratton, "it's rather in a bad way just now; don't you think so? Robert hasn't time to look after it, and wants to give it up. He says it doesn't pay; and really some of his things aren't particularly nice. I went and had a jam tart there this morning. It was like shoe-leather; and the jam was almost invisible." Wally laughed. He knew those tarts well. "I think it would be a pity if it was given up; don't you? We all want a little grub now and then; besides, it's an old School institution." "Robert charges three-halfpence a-piece for those tarts," said D'Arcy. "Yes--think of that. I've no doubt you could get them for half the price at Penchurch. What I was thinking was, why shouldn't some of us carry on the shop ourselves?" The boys opened their eyes. The idea of carrying on a tuck-shop on their own account opened a vista of such endless possibilities, that they were quite startled. "It ought to be easy enough if we manage properly," said Mr Stratton. "Suppose, now, we who are here were to form a committee and decide to run the shop, how should we begin?" "It depends on what Robert left behind," said Percy. "Oh, we wouldn't take over any of his stuff. No, the first thing would be to reckon up how much we should want to start with, and either club together or get some one to advance it. How many tarts do you suppose are sold a day?" "Hundreds," said Ashby. "Well, according to Robert, about eighty. But say one hundred. That at a penny each would be about 8 shillings for tarts. Then the ginger- beer. Would twenty bottles do? That would be 3 shillings 4 pence, supposing they cost 2 pence each. That's 11 shillings 4 pence. What next? Apples? Suppose we put them down at 2 shillings 6 pence--13 shillings 10 pence. Sweets? Well, say 2 shillings 6 pence more--16 shillings 4 pence. Nuts 1 shilling--17 shillings 4 pence. It mounts up, you see. We ought at least to have 25 or 30 shillings to start with. Well, I happen to know somebody who would lend that amount to the shareholders for a little time if we should want it. Now suppose we've got our money. We ought to send to some of the best shops and market people in the town to see what we could get our things for. As it happens, Mrs Stratton when she was in Penchurch this morning did inquire, and this is her report. The tarts that we should sell for a penny we could get for three farthings each, so that on a hundred tarts we should make a profit of 2 shillings 1 penny. And the confectioner would send his cart up every day with fresh tarts of different kinds of jam, and take back yesterday's stale ones at half-price. That would be a great improvement, wouldn't it?" "Rather," said everybody.