"You, being a gentleman, of course you would have it."
I had finished my ale. I sidled towards the door.
"I fear that does not necessarily follow."
The man advanced.
"Look 'ere, if I was to ask you to lend me ninepence----"
"Excuse me. I'm afraid I must be off."
And I was off.
I have a moral conviction that if I had stayed much longer that man would have tried to wriggle ninepence out of me.
[A Battlefield Up-to-Date]
I said to Nowell at the time that I didn't altogether like the notion. He seemed astonished.