Robert Louis Stevenson,
The Wrong Box
(1889)
“ Very respectable old gentleman; interested in leather; been to Asia Minor; no family, no assets—and a tongue, my dear Wickham, sharper than a serpent's tooth.' 'Cantankerous old party, eh?' suggested Wickham. 'Not in the least,' cried the other; 'only a man with a solid talent for being a bore; rather cheery I dare say, on a desert island, but on a railway journey insupportable. You should hear him on Tonti, the ass that started tontines. He's incredible on Tonti.' 'By Jove!' cried Wickham, 'then you're one of these Finsbury tontine fellows. ”
