But they're as civil as butter to each other, and then old Pompous goes on feathering his nest, and backing up the tradespeople, and the governor pitches into the young men of the present day." "He did give you the bigger allowance, didn't he ?" said I, at this pause in Jem's rhetoric.
"Yes, he did.

He's awfully good to me.

But you know, Jack, he never paid it quite all, and he never paid it quite in time.

I found out from my mother he did it on purpose to make me value it more, and be more careful.

Doesn't it seem odd he shouldn't see that I can't pay the subscriptions a few shillings short or a few days late?
One must find the money somehow, and then one has to pay for that, and then you're short, and go on tick, and it runs up, and then they dun you, and you're cleaned out, and there you are!" At which climax old Jem laid his curly head on his arms, and I began to think very seriously.
"How much do you owe ?" Jem couldn't say.