“Set down and rest for a moment,” recommended the boy. “Expect you’re like me—you’ve had a hard day of it.”
The little girl was expelled from the room for the reason that her mother, in sitting, found the concealed wooden top. The two were left to converse together; the boy found a crumpled cigarette in his pocket, and his mother, hunting for matches, sang the first lines of a song that belonged to her early youth.
“I’ve got no objection,” he said, speaking with deliberation, between the puffs, “to you being light-’earted, but I hope you realise, mother, that I’m having to stint myself pretty considerably in order that you should make both ends meet.”
“You’re a good lad,” she agreed, “as lads go nowadays!”
“I deny myself several luxuries, such as the first ’ouse at the local Empire, something extra for lunch, a new necktie for Sundays. This fag that I’m smoking at the present moment was given to me. I bring ’ome every penny I earn, and if I ’appen by any chance to make a bit extra, why, I bring that ’ome as well. I don’t begrudge it in the least; shouldn’t like you to think that of me, mother; all I want you to do is to recognise it. And if you care to mention the fact to neighbours, or friends, or even to relatives, why, there’s no objection on my part.”
“I’ve never made no secret of it, my dear,” she declared, reassuringly. “Your Aunt Mary was in only this afternoon, and you know what an inquisitive one she is. She brings a small pot of jam, and always expects about a ton of information in exchange. Wanted to know how I managed, and whether we was running into debt, and how long it was likely to last, and I don’t know what all. I didn’t tell her everything, but I did mention that if it hadn’t been for you I don’t know where we should have found ourselves.”
“And what did she say?”
“Said I ought to be proud of you. Said she wished she had a son like you.” He nodded approvingly, and continued to listen. “Said that, considering you only left school seven months ago—”
“Eight months.”
“—you might reckon yourself a credit to the family.”