第50章

’Myheartbeatsso。Well，Iwentbacktomyboothandpickedupmystallandmyfruits，whatIcouldfindofthem。Icouldn’tkeepmystallfortwodaysIgotsuchafright，andwhenIgotroundI

couldn’tbidetheboothwherethethinghadhappened，soIcameovertotheotherside。Oh，therascals，ifIcouldbutseethemhanged。’

’Forwhat？’

’Why，forstealingmybook。’

’Ithoughtyoudidn’tdislikestealing，-thatyouwerereadytobuythings-therewasyourson，youknow-’

’Yes，tobesure。’

’Hetookthings。’

’Tobesurehedid。’

’Butyoudon’tlikeathingofyourstobetaken。’

’No，that’squiteadifferentthing；what’sstealinghandkerchiefs，andthatkindofthing，todowithtakingmybook？there’sawidedifference-don’tyousee？’

’Yes，Isee。’

’Doyou，dear？well，blessyourheart，I’mgladyoudo。Wouldyouliketolookatthebook？’

’Well，IthinkIshould。’

’Honourbright？’saidtheapple-woman，lookingmeintheeyes。

’Honourbright，’saidI，lookingtheapple-womanintheeyes。

’Wellthen，dear，hereitis，’saidshe，takingitfromunderhercloak；’readitaslongasyoulike，onlygetalittlefartherintothebooth-Don’tsitsoneartheedge-youmight-’

Iwentdeepintothebooth，andtheapple-woman，bringingherchairround，almostconfrontedme。Icommencedreadingthebook，andwassoonengrossedbyit；hourspassedaway，onceortwiceIliftedupmyeyes，theapple-womanwasstillconfrontingme：atlastmyeyesbegantoache，whereuponIreturnedthebooktotheapple-woman，and，givingheranothertanner，walkedaway。

CHAPTERXLI

DeceaseoftheReview-Homerhimself-Breadandcheese-Fingerandthumb-Impossibletofind-Somethinggrand-Universalmixture-Someotherpublisher。

TIMEpassedaway，andwithittheReview，which，contrarytothepublisher’sexpectation，didnotproveasuccessfulspeculation。

Aboutfourmonthsaftertheperiodofitsbirthitexpired，asallReviewsmustforwhichthereisnodemand。Authorshadceasedtosendtheirpublicationstoit，and，consequently，topurchaseit；

forIhavealreadyhintedthatitwasalmostentirelysupportedbyauthorsofaparticularclass，whoexpectedtoseetheirpublicationsforedoomedtoimmortalityinitspages。ThebehaviouroftheseauthorstowardsthisunfortunatepublicationIcanattributetonoothercausethantoareportwhichwasindustriouslycirculated，namely，thattheReviewwaslow，andthattobereviewedinitwasaninfalliblesignthatonewasalowperson，whocouldbereviewednowhereelse。Soauthorstookfright；andnow