“‘At last!’ she ses, setting down ’er bag and giving me another smile. ‘I thought I was never going to get ’ere.”
“I coughed and backed inside a little bit on to my own ground. I didn’t want to ’ave that little beast of a office-boy spreading tales about me.
“‘I’ve come up to ’ave a little fling,’ she ses, smiling away harder than ever. ‘My husband don’t know I’m ’ere. He thinks I’m at ’ome.’
“I think I went back pretty near three yards.
“‘I come up by train,’ she ses, nodding.
“‘Yes,’ I ses, very severe, ‘and wot about going back by it?’
“‘Oh, I shall go back by ship,’ she ses. ‘Wot time do you expect the Eastern Monarch up?’
“‘Well,’ I ses, ’ardly knowing wot to make of ’er, ‘she ought to be up this tide; but there’s no reckoning on wot an old washtub with a engine like a sewing-machine inside ’er will do.’
“‘Oh, indeed!’ she ses, leaving off smiling very sudden. ‘Oh, indeed! My husband might ’ave something to say about that.’
“‘Your ’usband?’ I ses.