We sat, and everyone talked and laughed, saying what a fine thing it would be when Gentleman was made rich, and I came home with my cool three thousand; and still I kept rather quiet, and no-one seemed to notice. At last Mrs Sucksby patted her stomach and said,
''Won''t you give us a tune, Mr Ibbs, to put the baby to bed by?''
Mr Ibbs could whistle like a kettle, for an hour at a go. He put his glass aside and wiped the flip from his moustache, and started up with ''The Tarpaulin Jacket''. Mrs Sucksby hummed along until her eyes grew damp, and then the hum got broken. Her husband had been a sailor, and been lost at sea.—Lost to her, I mean. He lived in the Bermudas.
''Handsome,'' she said, when the song was finished. ''But let''s have a lively one next, for heaven''s sake!—else I shall be drove quite maudlin. Let''s see the youngsters have a bit of a dance.''
Mr Ibbs struck up with a quick tune then, and Mrs Sucksby clapped, and John and Dainty got up and pushed the chairs back. ''Will you hold my earrings for me, Mrs Sucksby?'' said Dainty. They danced the polka until the china ornaments upon the mantelpiece jumped and the dust rose inches high about their thumping feet. Gentleman stood and leaned and watched them, smoking a cigarette, calling ''Hup!'' and ''Go it, Johnny!'', as he might call, laughing, to a terrier in a fight he had no bet on.