‘I shouldn’t wonder,’ said Daniel, ‘if she started with the whole o’ the money.’
Which, indeed, was a true conjecture.
Time went on, and Daniel had been six months a licensed victualler. It was summer once more, and thirsty weather. Daniel stood behind the bar in his shirt sleeves, collarless for personal ease, with a white waistcoat, and trousers of light tweed. Across his stomach, which already was more portly than in his engineering days, swayed a heavy gold chain; on one of his fingers was a demonstrative ring. His face and neck were very red; his hair, cropped extremely short, gleamed with odorous oils. You could see that he prided himself on the spotlessness of his linen; his cuffs were turned up to avoid alcoholic soilure; their vast links hung loose for better observance by customers. Daniel was a smiling and a happy man.
It was early on Sunday evening; Hoxton had shaken itself from the afternoon slumber, had taken a moderate tea, and was in no two minds about the entirely agreeable way of getting through the hours till bedtime. Daniel beamed on the good thirsty souls who sought refuge under his roof from the still warm rays of the sun. Whilst seeing that no customer lacked due attention, he conversed genially with a group of his special friends. One of these had been present at a meeting held on Clerkenwell Green that morning, a meeting assembled to hear Richard Mutimer. Richard, a year having passed since his temporary eclipse, was once more prominent as a popular leader. He was addressing himself to the East End especially, and had a scheme to propound which, whatever might be its success or the opposite, kept him well before the eyes of men.
‘What’s all this ‘ere about?’ cried one of the group in an impatiently contemptuous tone. ‘I can’t see nothin’ in it myself.’
‘I can see as he wants money,’ observed another, laughing. ‘There’s a good many ways o’ gettin’ money without earnin’ it, particular if you’ve got a tongue as goes like a steam engine.’
‘I don’t think so bad of him as all that,’ said the man who had attended the meeting. ‘’Tain’t for himself as he wants the money. What do you think o’ this ‘ere job, Dan?’
‘I’ll tell you more about that in a year’s time,’ replied Dabbs, thrusting his fingers into his waistcoat pockets. ‘’Cording to Mike, we’re all goin’ to be rich before we know it. Let’s hope it’ll come true.’
He put his tongue in his cheek and let his eye circle round the group.
‘Seems to me,’ said the contemptuous man, ‘he’d better look after his own people first. Charity begins at ‘ome, eh, mates?’