I believe he would have sold himself to the devil for eightpence down.
He knew the value of money.

If you held out to him a penny in one hand and a threepenny-bit in the other, he would snatch at the threepence, and then break his heart because he could not get the penny in as well.

You might safely have left him in the room with a leg of mutton, but it would not have been wise to leave your purse about.
Now and then he spent a little, but not often.

He was desperately fond of sponge-cakes, and occasionally, when he had had a good week, he would indulge himself to the extent of one or two.

But he hated paying for them, and always made a frantic and frequently successful effort to get off with the cake and the penny also.