"Rat me sir—no, not a particle."
"And I feel uncomfortably stiff in 'em——"
"But, sir, reflect on the joy you confer on the beholder!"
"True, I had forgot that!" said the Major smiling.
"You are a joy to the eye nunky, an inspiration, you are, I vow you are. If your breeches cramp you, suffer 'em, if your coat gall you, endure it for the sake o' the world in general—be unselfish, sir. Look at me—on state occasions my garments pinch me infernally, cause me pasitive torture, sir, but I endure for the sake of others, sir."
"You are a martyr, Tom."
"Gad love me, sir, 'tis so, a man of fashion must be. So there you stand as gay a young spark as ever ruffled it——"
"These shoe-buckles, now," mused the Major, "here was an egregious folly and waste of money——"
"Nay, you could afford 'em, sir, and there's nothing can show your true man of taste like an elegant foot."
"Still, considering my age, Tom—