price is forty guineas," and he was going off again, but I stopped him. "I
will buy it. Take my name and address." "When will it be paid for?" he
asked. "On Monday."

'I followed him to the table, and he entered my name and address in a book.
Then I looked straight at him again. "Now, you understand," I said, "that
that picture is mine, and I shall either come or send for it about one
o'clock on Monday. If I hadn't wanted it specially, you would have lost a
sale by your impertinence." And I marched out of the room.

'But I was in a fearful state. I didn't know where I was going,--I walked
straight on, street after street, and just missed being run over half a
dozen times. Perspiration dripped from me. The only thing I knew was that I
had triumphed over a damned brute who had insulted me. I had stopped his
mouth; he believed he had made a stupid mistake; he could never have
imagined that a fellow without a sovereign in the world was speaking to him
like that. If I had knocked him down the satisfaction would have been very
slight in comparison.'

The gloom of nightfall had come upon us, and I could no longer see his face
distinctly, but his voice told me that he still savoured that triumph. He
spoke with exultant passion. I was beginning to understand Ireton.

'Isn't the story interesting?' he asked, after a pause.

'Very. Pray go on.'

'Well, you mustn't suppose that it was a mere bit of crazy bravado. I knew
how I was going to get the money--the forty guineas. And as soon as I could
command myself, I went to do the business.