The bruised pear

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Mrs Fenner noticed the boy when his hand disappeared beneath the canvas covering her fruit. It returned holding a pear, which vanished into his coat. The market was closing, and the neighbouring traders were calling to one another across the emptying square. She could have raised her voice and brought half of them running. Instead, she moved an empty crate across the narrow space by her stall.

'Put it back,' she said.

The boy stared beyond her as if an opening might appear in the brick wall. When he finally returned the pear, one side was brown where his fingers had pressed it. Mrs Fenner placed it apart from the sound fruit. She did not ask whether he was hungry. His eyes had followed the pear.

She told him that damaged goods must still be paid for. The boy turned out his pockets: a length of string, a bent button and nothing else. Mrs Fenner considered these objects without smiling. Then she pointed to the stack of wooden trays behind the stall. If he carried them to the storeroom and swept the floor, she said, he could earn the price of what he had spoiled.

He worked too quickly at first. Three trays slipped and struck the ground. Mrs Fenner made him lift them again and showed him how their corners fitted together. When he left dust beneath the weighing table, she handed back the broom. Only when the floor was clean did she place two coins in his palm. He looked at them uncertainly.

'One pays for the pear,' she said, taking one of them back. 'The other is yours.'

She wrapped the bruised fruit in paper and gave it to him. When he began to thank her, she interrupted to say that the first cart arrived before sunrise and that a reliable pair of hands might be useful. Her voice was as severe as it had been when she caught him.

At dawn, Mrs Fenner found the boy waiting beside the locked storeroom. She passed him the key and pointed towards the trays. Neither of them mentioned the pear.

“The writer presents Mrs Fenner's kindness as disciplined rather than indulgent.”

Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this idea. Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.