Amongst other things, he made a point of taking the middle of the footpath.
"Will you allow me to pass you, sir?—I am in a hurry," said a voice behind him one day.
"I won't," said Abinadab; on which a poor washerwoman, with her basket, scrambled down into the road, and Abinadab chuckled.
Next day he was walking as before.
"Will you allow me to pass you, sir?—I am in a hurry," said a voice behind him.
"I won't," said Abinadab. On which he was knocked into the ditch; and the Baron walked on, and left him to get out of the mud on whichever side he liked.
He quarrelled with his friends till he had none left, and he quarrelled with the tradesmen of the town till there was only one who would serve him, and this man offended him at last.
"I'll show you who's master!" said the Miller. "I won't pay a penny of your bill—not a penny."
"Sir," said the tradesman, "my giving you offence now, is no just reason why you should refuse to pay for what you have had and been satisfied with. I must beg you to pay me at once."
"I won't," said the Miller, "and what I say I mean. I won't; I tell you, I won't."