"I'll make you a cup of tea
at once. It'll do you good."
"Yes, get me some tea," answered Warburton, absently. Then, as she
was leaving the room, he asked, "Is it true that the grocer Boxon is
dead?"
"I was going to speak of it this morning, sir," replied Mrs. Hopper,
"but you seemed so busy. Yes, sir, he's died--died the day before
yesterday, they say, and it'd be surprising to hear as anybody's
sorry."
"Who'll take his business?" asked Warburton.
"We was talking about that last night, sir, me and my sister Liza,
and the Allchins. It's fallen off a great deal lately, what else
could you expect? since Boxon got into his bad ways. But anybody as
had a little money might do well there. Allchin was saying he wished
he had a few 'undreds."
"A few hundred would be enough?" interrupted the listener, without
noticing the look of peculiar eagerness on Mrs. Hopper's face.
"Allchin thinks the goodwill can be had for about a 'undred, sir;
and the rent, it's only eighty pounds--"
"Shop and house?"
"Yes, sir; so Allchin says. It isn't much of a 'ouse, of course."
"What profits could be made, do you suppose, by an energetic man?"
"When Boxon began, sir," replied Mrs. Hopper, with growing
animation, "he used to make--so Allchin says--a good five or six
'undred a year. There's a good deal of profit in the grocery
business, and Boxon's situation is good; there's no other grocer
near him. But of course--as Allchin says--you want to lay out a
good deal at starting--"
"Yes, yes, of course, you must have stock.
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