gs, and Mrs. Perkins five shillings, at
Christmas time. Also, I won ten shillings as a prize in a competition
arranged by the _Dursley Chronicle_. It was for the best five hundred
word description of an Australian scene, and I described Livorno Bay
and its derelict; and, as I thought at the time--quite mistakenly, I
am sure--described them rather well. Apart from a book or two I had
bought practically nothing, save boots and socks and a Sunday suit of
clothes. Mrs. Perkins had kindly supplied quite a stock of shirts for
me, by means of operations performed upon old shirts of her husband's.
My Sunday suit of clothes had occupied me greatly for some weeks. I
had never before bought clothing of any kind. After two or three
visits to the store, and many talks at mealtimes with Mrs. Gabbitas, I
finally decided upon blue serge.

'It do show the dust, but it don't show the wear so much as the rest
of 'em,' was the Gabbitular verdict which finally settled this
momentous business. A tie to match was given in with the suit, a
concession which I owed entirely to Mrs. Gabbitas's determined
enterprise. The tie was of satin, and, taken in conjunction with a
neatly arranged wad of silk handkerchief, extraordinarily variegated
in colour (Mrs. Gabbitas's present), protruding from the breast-pocket
of the new coat, it produced on the first Sunday after its purchase an
effect which I found at once arresting and sedately rich. My
looking-glass was not more than six inches square, but, by propping it up
on a chair, and receding from it gradually, I was able to obtain a very
fair view of my trousers; while, by replacing it on the wall, and
observing my reflection carefully from different angles, I was able to
judge of most parts of the coat and waistcoat.

After a good deal of thought, I decided that the best effect was
obtained by fastening the top button of the coat, turning back one
lower corner with careful negligence, and keeping it there by holding
one hand in my trouser pocket. In that order, then, I interviewed Mrs.
Gabbitas in the scullery, to receive her congratulations before
proceeding to church. Altogether, it was a day of pleasing excitement;
but, greatly though it intrigued me, the purchase left me as much a
miser as ever, my only other extravagance for a long time being a
cream-coloured parasol--my present to Mrs. Gabbitas; and---I may as
well confess it--I could not have brought myself to buy that, but for
the fact that it