He was usually reserved, and with strangers he
adhered to the weather or to passing events. He had spoken, however,
to this young woman as if they had been acquainted for years. Clara,
too, was surprised. She always cut short attempts at conversation in
the shop. Frequently she answered questions and receipted and
returned bills without looking in the faces of the people who spoke
to her or offered her the money. But to this foreigner, or Jew, she
had disclosed something she felt. She was rather abashed, but
presently her employer, Mr Barnes, returned and somewhat relieved
her.
'The gentleman who bought After Office Hours came for it while you
were out?'
'Oh! what, Cohen? Good fellow Cohen is; he it was who recommended
you to me. He is brother-in-law to your landlord.' Clara was
comforted; he was not a mere 'casual,' as Mr Barnes called his chance
customers.
CHAPTER XXIII
About a fortnight afterwards, on a Sunday afternoon, Cohen went to
the Marshalls'. He had called there once or twice since his mother-
in-law came to London, but had seen nothing of the lodgers. It was
just about tea-time, but unfortunately Marshall and his wife had gone
out. Mrs Caffyn insisted that Cohen should stay, but Madge could not
be persuaded to come downstairs, and Baruch, Mrs Caffyn and Clara had
tea by themselves. Baruch asked Mrs Caffyn if she could endure
London after living for so long in the country.
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