[color=f9ad81]"I'll need change for a silver. The others in town ran me out of coppers already."[/color]

He made a heavy and somber expression at the young girl filling his order. [color=f9ad81]"You think you have it rough... I have to explain to my father why I burned through 2 silver, and 60 copper, just getting supplies worth half that." 
[/color]

He placed one of the few remaining silver coins from the payout of this delivery run on the counter, then nodded toward the girl parceling out his order.

He gave her a weak, but earnest smile and a bow as she made his change.  [color=f9ad81]"Thank you for your service-- Ma'am,"[/color] then turned toward the elderly store owner, and repeated the gesture. [color=f9ad81]" --Ma'am."[/color]  Then collected his purchase, and left, feeling entirely hoodwinked in ways he could not properly articulate.

Well... ... So much for leads from the herbalist.

What was the deal with the hand mirror anyway?  Superstition says that mirrors can ward off ghosts by trapping them inside, but surely not... Surely not...

Other thoughts flittered through his head: Silly notions of old stories about witches communicating with their familiars through mirrors, with the beings "on the other side", and relaying messages to each other this way-- though some tales of that nature insisted it was with cursed wells, or moonlit pools. 

Purely, just idle superstition and nonsense.

Regardless, it was a fine silvered glass mirror, and in good condition. It was easily worth 20 coppers by itself; Glasswork wasn't cheap, and the item's quality was clearly high. Whatever sentimental value it held for the elderly shopkeeper he couldn't fathom-- Nor how it could be of any use to him on this trip short of helping him tend his hair and mustache in the mornings, but all the same...

--Maybe returning it after this was over would help him score a discount next time he shopped. --Goodness knows he was OWED one after this brutal treatment--