" Her
mind was in great confusion.
"How much does a ham cost, Mr. Lamb?"
"Sixteen pence a pound, ma'am," said the storekeeper rather
dryly, for he did not know but Daisy was thinking a reproof to
him.
"But how many pounds are there in a ham?"
"Just as it happens, ma'am — sometimes twenty, and from there
down to ten."
"Then how much does a whole ham cost?" said Daisy, whose
arithmetic was not ready.
"A ham of fifteen pounds, ma'am, would be about two dollars
and forty cents."
Daisy stood looking at the baskets, and thinking how much
money she would have over if she took the sixpenny ones. She
wanted twenty baskets; she found that the difference of price
between the plain and the pretty would leave her twenty
shillings in hand. Just enough! thought Daisy, — and yet, how
could she go to a strange house and offer to give them a ham?
She thought she could not. If she had known the people; but as
it was — Daisy bought the pretty baskets and set off
homewards.
"Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even
so to them" — Daisy could see nothing along the road but those
words. "That is my King's command to me — and those poor
people have got no breakfast.
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