In a breath, the bystander had become his ally, something for which Evander was truly grateful, even if he might’ve preferred no one else be in the shop to see this downfall of his at all. He latched onto the other man’s suggestion with keenness, scanning the floor around the tills for any sign of his wayward coins. He had handed them over as any honest man would, truly!
But they did not seem to be on the floor. And were not, as the cashier so compellingly displayed to them both now, in the cash register.
“I just can’t understand it,” Evander muttered, his face flushed in continued disbelief, as he rummaged for his coin-purse to draw out another payment, to just pay the amount a second time in order to be done with this. (He would pay ten times the amount if he could forget it.) “Well, I’ll -” pay you now, with my sincerest apologies, he had been beginning to say, only he had loosened the drawstrings only to find a very empty coin-purse before him. Merlin, how! It was as though the money had disappeared. "...Never mind."
With an expression of most profound consternation, Evander silently handed the packaged books back over to the shopworker in shamefaced defeat. He couldn’t pay for them now, and couldn’t take them if he couldn’t pay - and no doubt the cashier would not be tempted to put them on credit.
But they did not seem to be on the floor. And were not, as the cashier so compellingly displayed to them both now, in the cash register.
“I just can’t understand it,” Evander muttered, his face flushed in continued disbelief, as he rummaged for his coin-purse to draw out another payment, to just pay the amount a second time in order to be done with this. (He would pay ten times the amount if he could forget it.) “Well, I’ll -” pay you now, with my sincerest apologies, he had been beginning to say, only he had loosened the drawstrings only to find a very empty coin-purse before him. Merlin, how! It was as though the money had disappeared. "...Never mind."
With an expression of most profound consternation, Evander silently handed the packaged books back over to the shopworker in shamefaced defeat. He couldn’t pay for them now, and couldn’t take them if he couldn’t pay - and no doubt the cashier would not be tempted to put them on credit.
