“Yes; but—”
“And another just for to lick the stamps? My!”
“William leaves the club at one o’clock?” I said, interrogatively.
She nodded. “My mother,” she said, “is one to talk, and she says Mr. Hicking as he should get away at twelve, ‘cause his missis needs him more’n the gentlemen need him. The old woman do talk.”
“And what does William answer to that?”
“He says as the gentlemen can’t be kept waiting for their cheese.”
“But William does not go straight home when he leaves the club?”
“That’s the kid.”
“Kid!” I echoed, scarcely understanding, for, knowing how little the poor love their children, I had asked William no questions about the baby.
“Didn’t you know his missis had a kid?”