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Book, page 41 / 161 "Not the word of such broadcloth and buckram gentlemen as he is." "Take care what you say, or you may find yourself called to account for using improper language about this gentleman. We may have a duel on the carpet." "It would degrade him to fight with a tailor," replied the man of shears. "So I may speak my mind with impunity. But if he should challenge me, I will refuse to fight him, on the ground that he is no gentleman." "Indeed! How will you prove that?" "Every man must be permitted to have his own standard of gentility." "Certainly." "I have mine." "Ah! Well, how do you measure gentility?" "By my ledger. A man who doesn't pay his tailor's bill, I consider no gentleman. If L--sends me a challenge, I will refuse to fight him on that ground." "Good!" said Briarly, laughing. "I'm afraid, if your standard were adopted, that a great many, who now pass themselves off for gentlemen, would be held in little estimation." "It is the true standard, nevertheless," replied Shears. "A man may try to be a gentleman as much as he pleases, but if he don't try to pay his tailor's bill at the same time, he tries in vain." "You may be right enough," remarked Briarly, a good deal amused at the tailor's mode of estimating a gentleman, and possessed of a new fact in regard to L--'s claim to the honourable distinction of which he so often boasted. Shortly after this, it happened that L--made Briarly angry about
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