‘The ‘Ouse of Lords,’ put in the old man reminiscently.
‘The House of Lords, if you like. What I am asking is, were these people able to treat you as an inferior, simply because they were rich and you were poor? Is it a fact, for instance, that you had to call them ‘Sir’and take off your cap when you passed them?’
Chapter 802
The old man appeared to think deeply. He drank off about a quarter of his beer before answering. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘They liked you to touch your cap to ‘em.
It showed respect, like. I didn’t agree with it, myself, but I done it often enough. Had to, as you might say.’‘And was it usual—I’m only quoting what I’ve read in history books—was it usual for these people and their servants to push you off the pavement into the gutter?’