"Old Tomlin, hoary-headed sinner, went to Blackpool for the last week-end, and he didn't go alone, nor with Mrs. T., neither. He's a moral idiot is Tom. What would you say, Susie, if I went larkin' off to Brighton with Mabel Dredge—hey?"
He pinched her still blooming cheek, staring into her faithful eyes.
Susan replied artlessly:
"Joe, dear, it would break my heart."
"Gosh, I believe it would. Well, mother, your loving heart won't be broken that way."
Susan knew that this was true, and smiled delightfully.
"I'm a good hubby," said Quinney complacently, "and the very best of fathers, by Gum!"
Whenever he "swanked" (we quote Posy) like this, Susan regarded him anxiously.
James Miggott undertook his new job without protest, but there was an expression upon his handsome face which puzzled his employer. He summed up James as "downy." When he raised the young man's salary to four pounds a week, that derisive smile of which mention has been made, played about James's too thin lips. Quinney said sharply:
"You don't seem bustin' with joy and gladness. Four quid a week ain't to be sneezed at."