‘You wouldn’t like to be a real lady, would you, Joey?’

‘Wouldn’t I!’ said Joey, shyly but decisively.

‘What! Be a rotten West-End kid?’

Joey giggled an affirmative.

‘Wash every day?’ Another giggle.

‘Ain’t she sweet?’ murmured Prosser.

A sudden idea flashed over Joey’s face.

‘With him about?’ she asked.

‘Yes, I’d be about, Joey,’ said Prosser.

Without a moment’s hesitation Joey fled through the traffic and down St. Martin’s Lane.