"But, Lady Rags," said Jack Lubs, "my fellers haven't much cash, I know, and what little they have left, after getting Christmas presents for their own folks, they want to spend on you."
"Here too, Johnny," said Ashburner.
Jack glared at him. "Johnny!" he repeated.
"Well, Squint-eye, if you like it better. Shiver your timbers, please."
Lubs raised his fist, but Lady sprang forward and seized his arm.
"Oh, boys! boys!" she cried, "you promised to listen." And as they turned away from each other with shamed faces, she began again, "It's very, very kind of you to think of buying me a Christmas present, for I have no right to expect anything—"
"Guess you have, then," interrupted Jimmy Mullally.
"Got us out of lots of scrapes since last Christmas," said Abe Wilson.
"Mended my trousers when I tore 'em goin' down Hysen's coal-hole after my cat, and granny never found it out," said Willie Bond.
"Best girl in America, 'land of the free and home of the brave!'" said Jack Lubs.