for his wife.

"And -- there's a bottle of the best put by for you, Johnny,"
added Pat McDurmer, mistaking Johnny's silence; "and we'll call it
thirty bob!" (Johnny's ideas were coming slowly again,
after the recent rush.) "Or -- two quid! -- there you are!"

"I don't want two quid, nor one either, for taking my wife to a dance
on New Year's Night!" said Johnny Mears. "Run and put on
your best bib and tucker, Mary."

And she hurried to dress as eager and excited, and smiling to herself
as girlishly as she had done on such occasions on evenings
before the bright New Year's Night twenty years ago.

--
For a related story, see "A Bush Dance", in "Joe Wilson and His Mates".
-- A. L., 1998.
--




Black Joe



They called him Black Joe, and me White Joe, by way of distinction
and for the convenience of his boss (my uncle), and my aunt, and mother;
so, when we heard the cry of "Bla-a-ack Joe!" (the adjective drawn out