The customer gave her the right change, and went out.

And my mother never suspected that that was the proposed hossen, who came to look her over and see if she was likely to last.

For my father considered himself a man of experience now, this being his second match, and he was determined to have a hand in this affair himself.
No sooner was the hossen out of the store than his mother, also unknown to the innocent storekeeper, came in for a pound of tallow candles.

She offered a torn bill in payment, and my mother accepted it and gave change; showing that she was wise enough in money matters to know that a torn bill was good currency.
After the woman there shuffled in a poor man evidently from the country, who, in a shy and yet challenging manner, asked for a package of cheap tobacco.

My mother produced the goods with her usual dispatch, gave the correct change, and stood at attention for more trade.
Parents and son held a council around the corner, the object of their espionage never dreaming that she had been put to a triple test and not found wanting.