"Do not address yourself to my wife, sir; address yourself to me."
Still lolling back in the chair, the fellow turned, with the same impudent smile, to me.
"To you? Certainly I will address myself to you. I am here to address myself to you, though my address will not occupy more than half a dozen words. I want from you a hundred pounds. That is the only remark which I wish to address to you."
"What!"
I was reduced to gasping.
"Surely what I say is plain enough. And don't I say it plainly? I want from you a hundred pounds."
"This is Friday, and you only had a hundred pounds from me on Monday."
"Yes, and this, as you say, is Friday. A hundred pounds are but a hundred pounds. In the hands of a gentleman they fly. Especially when he has to provide for what may be called preliminary expenses of a certain kind, which, in themselves, make a hole in a century."
I knew to what he referred. He meant that he had replenished his wardrobe. As though that had anything to do with me.
"Do you imagine that I am a bank at which you have a large current account on which you can draw at sight."