purse-trick_). Now look 'ere, I don't mind tellin' yer all, fair _an_'
frank, I'm 'ere to get a bit, if I _can_; but, if you kin ketch me on my
_merits_, why, _I_ shan't grumble--I'll promise yer that much! Well,
now--(_to a stolid and respectable young Clerk_)--jest to show you don't
know _me_, and I don't know _you_--(_he throws three half-crowns into the
purse_). There, 'old _that_ for me. Shut it. (_The Clerk does so,
grinning._) Thank you--you're a gentleman, though you mayn't look like
it--but perhaps you're one in disguise. _Now_ gimme 'arf a crown for it.
Yer won't? _Any_ one gimme arf a crown for it? Why--(_unprintable
language_)--if ever I see sech a blanky lot o' mugs in _my_ life! 'Ere,
I'll try yer once more! (_He does._) _Now_ oo'll gimme arf a crown for it?
(_To a Genteel Onlooker, with an eyeglass, who has made an audible
comment_) "See 'ow it's done!" So yer orter, with a glazier's shop where
yer eye orter be! Well, if anyone had 'a told me I should stand 'ere, on
Boat-Race Day too, orferin' six bob for arf a crown, and no one with the
ordinary pluck an' straightforwardness to take me at my word, I'd have
suspected that man of tellin' me a untruth! (_To a simple-looking
spectator._) Will _you_ 'old this purse for me? Yer will? Well. I like the
manly way yer speak up! (_Here the_ Gent. Onl., _observing a seedy man
slinking about outside, warns the company to "mind their pockets"--which
excites the_ Purse-seller's _just indignation_.) "Ere!--(_to the_ G.O.) you
take _your_ 'ook! I've 'ad enough o' you. I 'ave. You're a bloomin' sight
too officious, _you_ are! Not much in _your_ pockets to mind--'cept the key
o' the street, and a ticket o' leave, I'll lay! If you carn't beyave as a
Gentleman _among _ Gentlemen, go 'ome to where you 'ad your 'air cut
last--to Pentonville! (_The_ G.O. _retires._) There, we shall get along
better without '_im_. 'Ow long are you goin' to keep me 'ere? Upon my word
an' honour, it's enough to sicken a man to see what the world's come to!
Where's yer courage? Where's yer own common sense? Where's your faith in
'umin nature? What do yer _expect_? (_Scathingly._) Want me to wrop it up