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Eve's Ransom by George Gissing
page 8 of 246 (03%)
"Now be careful, my lad," exclaimed Dengate, as again he winced
under the epithet. "My temper may get the better of me, and I should
be sorry for it. I got into this carriage with you (of course I had
a first-class ticket) because I wanted to form an opinion of your
character. I've been told you drink, and I see that you do, and I'm
sorry for it. You'll be losing your place before long, and you'll go
down. Now look here; you've called me foul names, and you've done
your best to rile me. Now I'm going to make you ashamed of
yourself."

Hilliard fixed the speaker with his scornful eyes; the last words
had moved him to curiosity.

"I can excuse a good deal in a man with an empty pocket," pursued
the other. "I've been there myself; I know how it makes you feel--
how much do you earn, by the bye?"

"Mind you own business."

"All right. I suppose it's about two pounds a week. Would you like
to know what _my_ in come is? Well, something like two pounds an
hour, reckoning eight hours as the working day. There's a
difference, isn't there? It comes of minding my business, you see.
You'll never make anything like it; you find it easier to abuse
people who work than to work yourself. Now if you go down to
Liverpool, and ask how I got to my present position, you'll find
it's the result of hard and honest work. Understand that: honest
work."

"And forgetting to pay your debts," threw in the young man.
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