The butcher was at work in the back room, and he put his head out and, seeing who had called, shook it.
"No books," he said shortly.

"I never buy books.

I didn't buy them Sir Walter Scotts even.

No books." Eliph' coughed his deprecatory little cough and walked behind the counter and to the door of the back room.
"So I understood," he said.

"I heard at Franklin that you didn't buy books; it was mentioned to me that I would be wasting my time in calling on you.