Calling one's self merely Somebody, without giving a name, is not to be taken as an example of the ill-breeding of the rural world
 Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd (1874). copy citation

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Author Thomas Hardy
Source Far from the Madding Crowd
Topic example world
Date 1874
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/107/107-h/107-h.htm

Context

“Oak went up to the door a little abashed: his mental rehearsal and the reality had had no common grounds of opening. Bathsheba's aunt was indoors. "Will you tell Miss Everdene that somebody would be glad to speak to her?" said Mr. Oak. (Calling one's self merely Somebody, without giving a name, is not to be taken as an example of the ill-breeding of the rural world: it springs from a refined modesty, of which townspeople, with their cards and announcements, have no notion whatever.) Bathsheba was out. The voice had evidently been hers. "Will you come in, Mr.” source