The Snake's Pass by Bram Stoker

I think it was a real pleasure to Dick to get Norah's message that he was expected to tea that evening. Like the rest of his sex, he was not quite free from vanity; for when I told him, his first act was to look down at himself ruefully, and his first words were: -

"But I say, old lad! look at the mess I'm in; and these clothes are not much, anyhow. "