The pudding,
however, it was impossible for me to dispense with; and finding,
therefore, that all my promises and entreaties, with the view of
obtaining credit, were fruitless, I at length, in an evil hour, incited
by the savoury smell which issued from the old woman's basket, proposed
to her to buy my shoes. After a good deal of bargaining, we at length
came to an understanding, by which it was agreed, that in consideration
of a quarter of a yard of pudding, and a shilling to be to me paid and
delivered, my new shoes were to be handed over to the dealer in
plum-pudding, as her own proper goods and chattels.

This contract being honourably completed on both sides, I retreated to a
solitary shed to eat my _duff_ (the name by which this description of
pudding was well known among us), where without any great exertion, I
soon brought the two extremities of my quarter of a yard together. The
last mouthful put me to the extremity of my wits to devise how I could
possibly account for the sudden disappearance of my shoes. My first
impulse was to run in search of the old woman, and endeavour, by fair
promises, to coax her out of the shoes again; but I soon found that no
such chance was left me, for she had made a precipitate retreat from the
place where we had transacted our business together, knowing well that
she was punishable for having bought such articles of me. Nothing
appeared to be now left for me but a palpable falsehood; and, although
of this I had a great abhorrence, yet I really had not sufficient
courage to think of avowing the literal truth. At length I thought I had
hit upon a sort of compromise, and I determined to say that I had
dropped my shoes on my way home; which, though not exactly the fact, yet
approached nearer to the truth than anything else I could devise, likely
to serve my end. As on all other occasions of the kind, however, it
appeared that I might just as well have made a full confession at
once--for my statement was not believed--and as I could not in any other
way account satisfactorily for the elopement of my shoes, I was ordered
seven days' black-hole for the purpose of refreshing my memory. Against
this punishment I prayed long and loudly, but all to no purpose; so,
with the remainder of my day's rations under my arm, off I was marched,
not much elated with the dreary prospect before me. When I heard the
door of the cell creak upon its hinges behind me, and the huge key grate
in the lock, I b