“It seems that there are people who know more about these ancient old
things than us, sir,” he said. “A man that has a great fancy for his
own opinion came round here shortly after you were here, and I could see
that he had his eye on that thing, though it was lying among the scraps;
and when he had talked long enough to put me off thinking that it had
caught his eye, he picked it up and asked me what I would take for it.
I told him half a sovereign, and he beat me down to three half-crowns.
Then he sold it to Anson in the Corn-market for a pound, and Anson took
it to the Museum and got thirty-five shillings for it. That's the whole
story. The others got a good bit more out of it than me.”
“That was a shame,” said I; “considering that you made it, you should
have had the largest share of the profit.”