"'E was, well--what you
might call a rare 'and at Snacks. Said that was the sort of friend
'e'd naturally expect me to 'ave. Said 'e'd naturally expect that
from the friend of a out-of-work loafer who took up with daughters
who didn't belong to 'im. There! I couldn't tell you 'ARF 'e said.
'E went on most outrageous. I stood up to 'im about it, just to dror
'im out. 'Wouldn't you stick to a 'arf-sov', not if you found it in
the street?' I says. 'Certainly not,' 'e says; 'certainly I wouldn't.'
'What! not if you found it as a sort of treasure?' 'Young man,'
'e says, 'there's 'i'er 'thority than mine--Render unto Caesar'--
what is it? Yes. Well, he fetched up that. A rare 'and at 'itting
you over the 'ed with the Bible, was the old man. And so he went on.
'E got to such Snacks about me at last I couldn't stand it. I'd
promised Jane not to answer 'im back, but it got a bit TOO thick.
I--I give it 'im . . ."
Mr. Brisher, by means of enigmatical facework, tried to make me
think he had had the best of that argument, but I knew better.
"I went out in a 'uff at last. But not before I was pretty sure I
'ad to lift that treasure by myself.
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