Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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The braid and gimp, she said, was very little in demand, and the whole street-trade was now so indifferent that the only way a man could get a fair profit on what he sold was by “palming”—​that is, giving short measure.

“Would you like to learn how to do it, Alf?” she inquired, and without waiting for an answer, she took a yard measure from the table behind, and cried, in a loud street voice:—

“Three yards a penny edging!” Then she measured three yards with her wand, and showed him how she “palmed” the lace by catching it in short with a jerk of the fingers.

“Let me try,” cried the boy, quietly, and in less than half an hour he palmed to perfection.

Young Purvis, when he had accomplished this important piece of manipulation, sallied forth.

He patrolled the favourite “pitches” of the lace business—​namely, the Borough-market, Walworth-road, Tooley-street, and Dockhead, Bermondsey.

He told his customers that he was a lace-maker from Millyham, and that the edgings were his own and his old father’s work.