y,' didn't he!"

"He's been very good, I will say," answered Emmy. "Been quiet all
day. And he ate his supper as good as gold." Jenny's smile and little
amused crouching of the shoulders caught her eye. "Well, so he did!"
she insisted. Jenny took no notice. "He's had his--mustn't say it,
because he _always_ hears that word, and it's not time for his
evening ... Eight o'clock he has it."

"What's that?" said Alf, incautiously. "Beer?"

"Beer!" cried Pa. "Beer!" It was the cry of one who had been malignantly
defrauded, a piteous wail.

"There!" said both the girls, simultaneously. Jenny added: "Now you've
done it!"

"All right, Pa! Not time yet!" But Emmy went to the kitchen cupboard as
Pa continued to express the yearning that filled his aged heart.

"Sorry!" whispered Alf. "Hold me hand out, naughty boy!"

"He's like a baby with his titty bottle," explained Emmy. "Now he'll be
quiet again."

Alf fidgeted a little. This contretemps had unnerved him. He was less
sure of himself.

"Well," he said at last, darkly. "What I came in about ... Quarter to
eight, is it? By Jove, I'm late. That's telling Mr. Blanchard all the
news. The fact is, I've got a couple of tickets for the theatre down the
road--for this evening, I thought ... erum ..."

"Oh, extravagance!" cried Jenny, gaily, dropping the pin from between
her lips and looking in an amused flurry at Emmy's anguished face
opposite. It was as though a chill had struck across the room, as though
both Emmy's heart and her own had given a sharp twist at the shock.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong. That's what cleverness does for you."
Alf nodded his head deeply and reprovingly. "Given to me, they were, by
a pal o' mine who works at the theatre. They're for to-night. I
thought--"

Jenny, with her heart beating, was stricken for an instant with panic.
She bent her head lower, holding the rose against the side of her hat,
watching it with a zealous eye, once again to test the effect. He
thought she was coquetting, and leaned a little towards her. He would
have been ready to touch her face teasingly with his forefinger.

"Oh," Jenny exclaimed, with a hurried assumption of matter of fact ease
suddenly ousting her panic. "That's very good. So you thought you'd take
_Emmy_! That was a very good boy!"

"I thought ..." heavily stammered Alf, his eyes opening in a surprised
way as he found himself thus headed off from his true intention. He
stared blankly at Jenny, until