I didn't think it would take so long to get breakfast.

I think I have a chance for work in Stepney, and the sooner I start, the better chance I'll have of getting it." He was really a good fellow, though he was startled by my request.

"Wy," he said, "we're goin' to 'old services, and you'd better sty." "But that will spoil my chances for work," I urged.

"And work is the most important thing for me just now." As he was only a private, he referred me to the adjutant, and to the adjutant I repeated my reasons for wishing to go, and politely requested that he let me go.
"But it cawn't be done," he said, waxing virtuously indignant at such ingratitude.

"The idea!" he snorted.