Sam, struggling 'ard to be perlite. 'I've
paid for everything for the last ten days, ain't I?'

"'Yes,' ses Ginger. 'You 'ave, and I thank you for it.'

"'So do I,' ses Peter Russet. 'Hearty I do.'

"'It was your kind-'artedness,' ses Ginger, grinning like mad. 'You gave
it to us, and we wouldn't dream of giving it to you back.'

"'Nothin' o' the kind,' ses Sam, choking.

"'Oh, yes you did,' ses Ginger, 'and you didn't forget to tell people
neither. You told everybody. Now it's our turn.'

"He opened the door and kicked the lodger out. Leastways, he would 'ave
kicked 'im, but the chap was too quick for 'im. And then 'e came back,
and, putting his arm round Peter's waist, danced a waltz round the room
with 'im, while pore old Sam got on to his bed to be out of the way.
They danced for nearly 'arf-an-hour, and then they undressed and sat on
Peter's bed and talked. They talked in whispers at fust, but at last Sam
'eard Peter say:--

"'Threepence for 'is brekfuss; sevenpence for 'is dinner; threepence for
'is tea; penny for beer and a penny for bacca. 'Ow much is that,
Ginger?'

"'One bob,' ses Ginger.

"Peter counted up to 'imself. 'I make it more than that, old pal,' he
ses, when he 'ad finished.

"'Do you?' ses Ginger, getting up. 'Well, he won't; not if he counts it
twenty times over he won't. Good-night, Peter. 'Appy dreams.'"

DUAL CONTROL

"Never say 'die,' Bert," said Mr. Culpepper, kindly; "I like you, and so
do most other people who know what's good for 'em; and if Florrie don't
like you she can keep single till she does."

Mr. Albert Sharp thanked him.

"Come in more oftener," said Mr. Culpepper. "If she don't know a steady
young man when she sees him, it's her mistake."

"Nobody could be steadier than what I am," sighed Mr. Sharp.

Mr. Culpepper nodded. "The worst of it is, girls don't like steady young
men," he said, rumpling his thin grey hair; "that's the silly part of
it."

"But you was always steady, and Mrs. Culpepper married you," said the
young man.

Mr. Culpepper nodded again. "She thought I was, and that came to the
same thing," he said, composedly. "And it ain't for me to say, but she
had an idea that I was very good-looking in them days. I had chestnutty
hair. She burnt a piece of it only the other day she'd kept for thirty
years."

[Illustration: A very faint squeeze in return decided him]

"Burnt it? What for?" inquired Mr. Sharp.

"Words," s