id I.

"Yes, which I had taken out of your lordship's pocket one day as you were
walking the streets in a great hurry. I thought it was a pocket-book at
first, full of bank notes, perhaps," continued he, laughing. "It was
well for me, however, that it was not, for I should have soon spent the
notes; as it was, I had flung the old thing down with an oath, as soon as
I brought it home. When I was so hard up, however, after the affair with
that friend of yours, I took it up one day, and thought I might make
something by it to support myself a day with. Chance or something else
led me into a grand shop; there was a man there who seemed to be the
master, talking to a jolly, portly old gentleman, who seemed to be a
country squire. Well, I went up to the first, and offered it for sale;
he took the book, opened it at the title-page, and then all of a sudden
his eyes glistened, and he showed it to the fat, jolly gentleman, and his
eyes glistened too, and I heard him say, 'How singular!' and then the two
talked together in a speech I didn't understand--I rather thought it was
French, at any rate it wasn't cant; and presently the first asked me what
I would take for the book. Now I am not altogether a fool nor am I
blind, and I had narrowly marked all that passed, and it came into my
head that now was the time for making a man of myself, at any rate I
could lose nothing by a little confidence; so I looked the man boldly in
the face, and said, 'I will have five guineas for that book, there a'n't
such another in the whole world.' 'Nonsense,' said the first man, 'there
are plenty of them, there have been nearly fifty editions to my
knowledge; I will give you five shillings.' 'No,' said I, 'I'll not take
it, for I don't like to be cheated, so give me my book again;' and I
attempted to take it away from the fat gentleman's hand. 'Stop,' said
the younger man, 'are you sure that you won't take less?' 'Not a
farthing,' said I; which was not altogether true, but I said so. 'Well,'
said the fat gentleman, 'I will give you what you ask;' and sure enough
he presently gave me the money; so I made a bow, and was leaving the
shop, when it came into my head that there was something odd in all this,
and, as I had got the money in my pocket, I turned back, and, making
another bow, said, 'May I be so bold as to ask why you gave me all this
money for that 'ere dirty book? When I came into the shop, I should have
been glad to get a shilling