Chapter the Second

The Dismissal of Parsons

Suddenly Parsons got himself dismissed.

He got himself dismissed under circumstances of peculiar violence,

that left a deep impression on Mr. Polly's mind. He wondered about it

for years afterwards, trying to get the rights of the case.

Parsons' apprenticeship was over; he had reached the status of an

Improver, and he dressed the window of the Manchester department. By

all the standards available he dressed it very well. By his own

standards he dressed it wonderfully. "Well, O' Man," he used to say,

"there's one thing about my position here,--I can dress a window."

And when trouble was under discussion he would hold that "little

Fluffums"--which was the apprentices' name for Mr. Garvace, the senior

partner and managing director of the Bazaar--would think twice before

he got rid of the only man in the place who could make a windowful of

Manchester goods tell.

Then like many a fellow artist he fell a prey to theories.

The History of Mr Polly