"What if I 'ave?" submitted the injured man. "Ain't I still entitled to compensation fur my accident?"
"It seems to me you've had it," argued the doctor.
"That I ain't," asserted the indignant claimant; "not a blighted 'a'penny."
"Four weeks' rest, full pay," recited the doctor, with an air of monotony.
"Wiv me shoulder-blade all to Bucklesbury," added the claimant. "And not a brazen farthing fur me accident. I 'ad the corpuscular accident all right, I suppose? Ye don't deny it, do ye?"
"By no means," exclaimed the doctor. "Didn't I myself attend you for a unique complaint in the shoulder-blade?"
"Very well, then," pursued the invalid, somewhat mollified by this admission. "In that case I demand my rights. I demand the rights of a honest workin' man. I ask for compensation for my accident, same's what I'm entitled to accordin' to lor. Will you write out that invoice fur me?"
"Certainly: for the exact amount which you may care to pay me."
"Do you call yeself a man?" demanded the visitor, with heightened colour. "What the scarlet letter do ye reckon I engaged ye for? Think I wanted ye for the sake of yere filthy physic? Ain't ye got no 'eart? Make out the invoice like a fair-minded man. Never tell me as you'd 'ave the 'eart to rob a pore man of 'is money.... They've refused to give me compensation fur my accident, and now 'ere's you—a genelman born, as oughta be above sich actions—you're gointer rob a pore man of 'is doctor's bill.... Besides, I tole 'em that I owed a sovereign to the doctor, and they tells me to produce the invoice.... What am I to tell my firm?"
"Tell them what you like," replied the doctor. "I certainly shall give you no receipt for money which I haven't had."