"I drank the
fellow's beer, every drop--could have drunk more. Our fat and furious
friend labours under a delusion, for to drink good beer with a man out
of that man's own pot is surely a mark of high esteem--"
"Dang your 'steem!" cried the stout fellow, flourishing his empty
tankard threateningly. "A chap as thieves a chap's beer is a chap as
can't be no chap's friend! 'Ow about it, you chaps?" quoth he,
appealing to his fellows. "Shall us let a chap thieve a chap's beer
an' not kick that chap out where that chap belongs--'ow about it?"
Whereupon came the answering chorus:
"Aye, Sim, go for 'im, lad--we'm wi' 'ee! Pitch 'im out! Duck 'im in
th' 'orsepond!"
At this juncture spake one I deemed to be the landlord, a gloomy being
who drooped above a small bar in one corner.
"Do as ye will, neighbours all, do as ye will--only don't break
nothink--them as breaks, pays!"
"One moment, please!" said I, stepping forward. "If the gentleman
committed the solecism complained of, it was, I am sure, not so much a
wish to offend as an error of judgment--"
"Admirably expressed, sir!" exclaimed the gentleman in question. "And
suffer me to add--the exigencies of fortune and circumstance!"
"Therefore," I continued, returning the gentleman's polite bow, "I
shall be happy to make such restitution on his behalf as I may."
At this there fell a strange silence during which every eye was fixed
on me in somewhat disconcerting fashion, feet shuffled, heads were
scratched.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53