Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. II, 1889.djvu/243

 medals?’ he says, in a quiet way like. ‘What do you want to know for?’ I says,—’cos you see he was a bloke as I didn’t know nothing about, and there’s no good being over-free with your talk. He got me to walk on a bit with him, and kept talking. ‘You didn’t buy that nowhere,’ he says, with a sort of wink. ‘What if I didn’t?’ I says. ‘There’s no harm, as I know.’ Well, he kept on with his sort o’ winks, and then he says, ‘Got any queer to put round?’”

At this point, Jack lowered his voice to a whisper and looked timorously towards the door.

“You know what he meant, Bob?”

Bob nodded and became reflective.

“Well, I didn’t say nothing,” pursued Bartley, “but the chap stuck to me. ‘A fair price for a fair article,’ he says. ‘You’ll always find me there of a Thursday night, if you’ve got any business going. Give me a look round,’ he says. ‘It ain’t in my line,’ I says. So he gave a grin like, and kep’ on talking. ‘If you want a four-half shiner,’ he says, ‘you