I passed several such places before I found the modest house I wanted. Then I stepped into it rather nervously and took the seat nearest the door.
It was an oblong room with red plush seats along the walls behind a line of marble-topped tables. The customers were all men, chiefly clerks and warehousemen, I thought, and the attendants were girls in black frocks and white aprons.
There seemed to be a constant fire of free-and-easy flirtation going on between them. At one table a man in a cloth cap was saying to the girl who had served him:
"What's the damage, dearie?"
"One roast, one veg, two breads—'levenpence, and no liberties, mister."
"Sunday off, Em'ly?" said a youth in a red tie at another table, and being told it was, he said:
"Then what do you say to 'oppin' up to 'Endon and 'aving a day in a boat?"
I had to wait some time before anybody came to attend to me, but at length a girl from the other end of the room, who had taken no part in these amatory exchanges, stepped up and asked what I wanted.
I ordered a glass of cold milk and a scone for myself and a pint of hot milk to replenish baby's bottle.
The girl served me immediately, and after rinsing and refilling the feeding-bottle she stood near while the baby used it.