With five guineas in my hand I could leave this hole. With five guineas every week, I could be someone different completely. I could have my own rooms, and a servant. I could have a carriage. There were girls all over Mayfair, set up like ladies, cos they had a gentleman who would give them five guineas a week.
He smiled a little, as if he'd seen the thought cross my mind.
Oh, Christ - but not five guineas from this one. Not five hundred guineas, if it had to come from this one.
'What would you want,' I heard myself asking, 'for five guineas?' ...
'I think what I want most of all,' he said finally, 'is for someone to die.'