“I’m middling glad you thought it, Jerry, fur it wur a good thought. You’ll lose naun by kipping straight and sober, so you go on wud it, my lad.”
“I don’t care, if I can’t get you.”
“That’s unsensible talk. I’m not the only girl that’s going—thur’s many better.”
“Reckon there is—reckon I’ll get one for every day of the week. No need to tell me girls are cheap—I only thought I’d like one that wasn’t, for a change.”
“Doan’t you talk so bitter.”
“I talk as I feel. You’ve settled with this chap, Ivy?”
“I’ve told you a dunnamany times. Wot maakes you so thick?”
He did not answer, but turned away, and walked out of the room with a stealthy, humble step, like a beaten dog. Ivy’s heart smote her—she could not let him go without a kind word.
“Jerry!” she called after him. But he did not turn back—and then, unaccountably, she felt frightened.