"Yes," I nodded.
"An' for why?"
"Well, you will probably remember that the hat had a band round it—"
"Ay, all wore away it were too—"
"And that in the band was a buckle—"
"Ay, all scratched an' rusty it were—well?"
"Well, that tarnished buckle was of silver—"
"Silver!" gasped the man, his jaw falling.
"And easily worth five shillings, perhaps more, so that I think you were, upon the whole, rather hasty." Saying which, I finished my ale and, taking up my staff, stepped out into the sunshine.