"But you a Scot! No fear! A Scot wad ha' asked me for a tanner--and got it, tae!" He looked very thoughtful as he stared at the two broad coppers I left on his itching palm.

He was reflecting, I suppose, on the other fourpence he might ha' had o' me had he asked them! But doubtless he soon spent what he did get in a pub.
There were many times, though, and are still, when puir folk come to me wi' a real tale o' bad luck or misfortune to tell.

It's they who deserve it the most are most backward aboot asking for a loan; that I've always found.

It's a sair thing to decide against geevin' help; whiles, though, you maun feel that to do as a puir body asks is the worst thing for himsel'.
I mind one strange and terrible thing that came to me.

It was in Liverpool, after I'd made my London success--long after.