He told me he could never have got there if he hadn't have 'run with the boys'-- told it me as I'm telling you.

Now, we're all British subjects here----" he was going on.
"I am afraid I am an American," I said apologetically.
He seemed the least bit taken aback, but recovered himself; and with the ready tact of his betters, paid me the usual British compliment on the riposte.

"You don't say so!" he exclaimed.

"Well, I give you my word of honour, I'd never have guessed it.

Nobody could tell it on you," said he, as though it were some form of liquor.
I thanked him, as I always do, at this particular stage, with his compatriots: not so much perhaps for the compliment to myself and my poor country, as for the revelation (which is ever fresh to me) of Britannic self-sufficiency and taste.