"Mr Poulter?"
"You've guessed right this time. Is there—is there any chance of his coming?" asked Miss Nippett wistfully.
"There's every chance. The doctor was going to tell him how ill you were."
"But you don't understand; these great, big, famous men ain't like me and you. They—they forget and—" Tears gathered in the red rims of Miss Nippett's eyes. Mavis wiped them gently away and softly kissed the puckered brow.
"There's somethin' I'd like to tell you," said Miss Nippett, some minutes later.
"Try and get some sleep," urged Mavis.
"But I want to tell someone. It isn't as if you was a larruping girl who'd laugh, but you're a wife, an' ever so big at that, with what you're expectin' next week."
"What is it?" asked Mavis.
"Bend over: you never know oo's listening."
Mavis did as she was asked.