“What nonsense!”
“You are. You won’t be able to stand the strain if you don’t eat properly.”
“I shan’t if I do,” he replied. “How can I buy books and pay rent and all that if I lavish my substance on victuals.”
“How much do you spend a week on food?”
“Never thought.”
“Think then.”
“Not I. Look! You haven’t seen this copy of ‘Erewhon,’ have you? It’s a first edition!”
“I want you to answer my question.”
He tossed his head petulantly.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” he implored. “The world is peopled with folk who worry about these matters; let’s be away from them. You’ll want me to buy a dinner-gong next so that half the street may know I am sitting down to table.”