tone; "an adaptable man like you, Cap'n."

"Eh? What's that you were sayin' about my hat?" asked Captain Cai; and
just then, letting his gaze wander to the depths of the glass, he was
aware of Mr Philp shamelessly trying on that same hat before another
mirror at the back of the shop.

"Hullo, there!"

Mr Philp faced about solidly, composedly.

"I was thinkin'," said he, "as I'd bid you three-an'-six for this, if
you've done with it. I've long been wantin' something o' the sort, for
interments."

"Done with you!" said Captain Cai, reaching for it and clapping it on
his head. "Only you must send round for it to-morrow, when I've found
myself something more up-to-date." Again he contemplated his shaven
image in the mirror. "Lord! A man do look younger without a
chin-beard!"

"Ay, Cap'n." Barber Toy, knuckles on hips, regarded and approved his
handiwork. "The world's afore 'ee. Go in and win!"


As he stepped out upon the Quay, Captain Cai lifted his gaze towards the
tower of the Parish Church, visible above an alley-way that led between
a gable-end of the Town Hall and the bulging plank of the "King of
Prussia." Aloft there the clock began to chime out the eight notes it
had chimed, at noon and at midnight, through his boyhood, and had been