He returned to Helen, who bravely met his eyes. "I'm off home," he said, hoarsely. "It's my tea-time."
"Good-afternoon," she replied, with amiability.
"Happen you'll come along with me, like?"
The use of that word "like" at the end of an interrogative sentence, in the Five Towns, is a subject upon which a book ought to be written; but not this history. The essential point to observe is that Helen got up from the bench and said, with adorable sweetness:
"Why, I shall be charmed to come!"
("What a perfect old darling he is!" she said to herself.)
CHAPTER V
A SALUTATION