But she was listening with all her
might, and as the uproar died down again she caught the accents of a
man's voice attempting a speech.

"My friends," it was saying, still lifting itself higher against the
good-humoured interruptions, "my very good friends--impossible not to be
gratified--expression of good will--venture to say, on the whole--
thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. My sister"--(interruptions and cheers
for Miss Sally)--"my sister begs me to say--highly gratified--spirit of
the thing--but, if I may plead, some degree of fatigue only natural--
won't misunderstand if I ask--disperse--quietly as possible--eh?
Oh, yes, 'God save the King,' by all means--much obliged, reminder--
thank you--yes, certainly."

Thereupon the band played the National Anthem, and the throng, after yet
another outbreak of cheering, dispersed. Followed a silence in the
darkness under the platform, broken only by the distant thudding bass of
the roundabout's steam organ; and then between the boards there sounded
a liquid chuckle, much like a blackbird's, and a woman's voice said--

"Come, my dear brother, say it out! The Countess has gone; everybody
has gone--she must have stampeded 'em, by the way--and as the Jew said,
when a thunderstorm broke on the picnic, 'Here's a fuss over a little
bit of ham!' Well, my dear, there has always been this about Sally--
a man can swear before her _sans gene_. So, to give you a start, how
did they take it?"

"If after these years I didn't know you to be incorrigible--" growled
the voice of Sir Elphinstone.

"'For ladies of all ages,' the bills said."

"'Ladies!'"

"I am quoting your own bill--I'll bet a fiver, too, that you drafted it.
Anyway, I'm rising forty--though I'd defy 'em to tell it by my teeth.
And since they passed me for a lady--oh, Elphinstone, it _was_ a lark!
And I never thought I had the wind for it. You remember Kipling--you
are always quoting that young man--"

'The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a
barren doe.'

"Well, that's how it was: 'Like a barren doe,' I give you my word."

"My dear Sally!"

"Shameless, was it? My dear Elphinstone, you've only to bill it, and
I'll do Lady Godiva for 'em next year--at _my_ time of life. But if you
don't like Kipling, what do you say to this?"

'For really this was a remarkable Ham,
A twenty-pound solid Imperial Ham,
And old Mrs. Liddicott
Tucked up her petticoat--'

"Which rem