"You surely haven't come alone!" said the lady.
William gave vent to the dark emotions of his soul.
"All I say is," he said, "that if you knew my family you'd be jolly glad to go anywhere alone if you was me."
The lady made little clicking noises with her tongue expressive of sorrow and concern.
"Dear, dear, dear!" she said. "And are you going to have tea now?"
William assumed his famous expression of suffering patience.
"I've got no money. It's not much use goin' to have tea anywhere when you haven't got no money."
"Haven't they given you any money for your tea?" said the lady indignantly.
"Not they!" said William with a bitter laugh. "They wun't of let me come if they'd known. They wun't of paid anything for me. It was a frien' gave me the ticket jus' to giv' me a bit of pleasure," he said pathetically, "but they wun't even give me money for my tea."
"Perhaps," said the lady, "you had a late lunch and they thought——"