"Come away, lassie!"
Dicky looked up from his labours at this, and beheld his fiancée for the first time. All he said was—
"By gad, you've done it after all! Bravo!"
But Dilly did not appear to be at all gratified She merely sat on Gerald's little mountain of paving-blocks, looking as if she could not decide whether to throw her apron over her face and scream, or take a header into the wigwam. My heart bled for her in spite of her folly. The crowd, deeply interested and breathing hard, stood round waiting for the performance to begin.
It was Coaldust who took the lead.
"Tip us a song and dance, Clara," he said encouragingly.
Robin, who had been making a show of unfastening the bundle, suddenly rose to his feet. Coaldust saw him.
"All right, Carnegie," he remarked hurriedly. "No offence, ole pal!"
But Robin turned to Dicky, and the two held a hasty conversation, whose nature I could guess. Dilly could not be exposed to this sort of thing any longer. They began to put on their coats.
"They are going to give it up," I said, not without relief. "About time, isn't it? Do you recognise them, Champion?"