She kin wait for her shoe while I'm havin' my aise an'
forgettin' all about work."
"When did you promise the shoe to her?" asked Sam.
"Oh, sometime this afternoon," said Larry, "an' she hasn't come in here
yet. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, ye know the good book
says, Sam. Maybe she won't come in till to-morrow; she's a busy woman;
nobody knows where she's goin' or what she's doin' throughout the day,
an', to tell ye the truth, I thought to myself I'd shut up the shop an'
go home, so if she came there'd not be anybody here to tell a loie
about it."
"Well, Larry, wouldn't it do just as well if there was somebody here to
tell the truth about it?"
"Oh, there, now, Sam," said the shoemaker, rallying himself for an
instant; "they tould me that you was converted in jail, an' that sounds
a good deal like it. Now, Sam, I want to tell ye if ye want to argy on
the subject of the truth, or any other of the moral sintiments, with
any man whatsoever, ye don't want to come to a shoemaker's shop an'
find a fellow who's just had three drinks in him at somebody else's
expense. Now go 'way; come 'round here to-morrow when I'm sober, an'
I'll own up to everything you say, no matter what it is."
"That won't get Mrs. Prency her shoes," said Sam. "Go home an' go to
bed, an' let me finish that shoe in your hand, an' if she comes here
it'll be ready for her, an' if she don't you won't have anything on
your conscience,--not so far as she's concerned.
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