"'Cap'n Tarbell?' I ses, very slow; 'Cap'n Tarbell 'as gone off for the
evening.'

"'Gone off!' she ses, staring. 'But he can't 'ave. Are you sure?'

"'Sartain,' I ses. Then I 'ad a bright idea. 'And there's a letter come
for 'im,' I ses.

"'Oh, dear!' she ses. 'And I thought it would be in plenty of time.
Well, I must go on the ship and wait for 'im, I suppose.'

"If I 'ad only let 'er go I should ha' saved myself a lot o' trouble, and
the man wot deserved it would ha' got it. Instead o' that I told 'er
about the music-'all, and arter carrying on like a silly gal o' seventeen
and saying she couldn't think of it, she gave way and said she'd go with
me to find 'im. I was all right so far as clothes went as it happened.
Mrs. Plimmer said once that I got more and more dressy every time she saw
me, and my missis 'ad said the same thing only in a different way. I
just took a peep through the wicket and saw that Joe 'ad taken up my
dooty, and then we set off.

"I said I wasn't quite sure which one he'd gone to, but we'd try the
Pagoda Music-'all fust, and we went there on a bus from Aldgate. It was
the fust evening out I 'ad 'ad for years, and I should 'ave enjoyed it if
it 'adn't been for Miss Lamb. Wotever Cap'n Tarbell could ha' seen in
'er, I can't think.

"She was quiet, and stupid, and bad-tempered. When the bus-conductor came
round for the fares she 'adn't got any change; and when we got to the
hall she did such eggsterrordinary things trying to find 'er pocket that