They owed me wages, but I didn't stop for nothink. I was frightened. I
got a place afterwards up Islington, three ol' sisters, kep' a fancy
shop, fought with each other every minute of their lives. I 'adn't bin
there two days before Elbert walked in, jest as laughin' an' lovin' as
ever. I see then it was no use, good or bad 'e'd got me. I let 'im sit
in my kitchen, an' give 'im some sugar-bread. An' one of the ol'
cat-sisters come in. ''Oo's this?' she ses. 'A young friend o' mine,' I
ses. 'You're a liar,' she ses, 'I seed from the first minute as you
wasn't no respectable gal,' she ses, 'an' now per'aps me sisters'll
believe me. So out I 'ad to go, an' I wasn't sorry. It seemed like there
wasn't nothink in the world mattered but Elbert, like as if damnation
was worth while. 'Ow, Elbert,' I ses, 'I'd go to the Devil for you, an'
smile all the way.' 'E laughed an' laughed. 'Come on,' 'e ses, 'to-day's
an 'oliday.' Though it wasn't, it was a Tuesday in August. 'Come on,' 'e
ses, 'get yer best 'at on,' an' 'e gives me a yaller rose, for me
button-'ole. A year ago come August, thet was. I follered Elbert at a
run all up the City Road, an' near the Angel we took a taxi. 'Tell 'im
Euston Station,' ses Elbert, an' so I did. You know the 'uge top o' thet
station from the 'ill by the Angel--well, kid, I tell you I saw a reel
mountain for the first time, when I saw thet. It was the 'eat mist, an'
a sort o' pink light made a reel 'ighland landscape out of it. I paid
the taxi-man over 'alf of all the money I 'ad, an' we went to the
ticket-awfice. 'Elbert,' I ses, 'where shell we book to,' I ses, like
that, though I 'adn't 'ardly a bloody oat in me purse. 'Take a platform
ticket,' 'e ses, an' so I did. But 'e run on to the platform without no
ticket, an' begun dancin' up an' down among the people like a mad thing,
but nobody seemed to mind 'im. I set down on a seat to watch 'im. I
thought: 'Blimey,' I thought, 'if I ain't under thet blinkin' mountain
now, an' all these people,' I ses, 'is the Little People they tell of,
that lives inside 'ills, an' on'y comes out under the moon.' I
remembered thet moonlight debt o' mine, an' I thought--'I'm done with
the mud now, I'm comin' alive now,' I ses, 'and this'll be my charnce.'
Presently Elbert come back to me, an' 'e was draggin' a soldier by the
'and. 'This is a magic man,' ses Elbert, 'come back from livin' under
the sky. Can't you feel the magic?' 'e ses.

"Well, dearie, take it 'ow y