'Oh, you ----!' she said. Her expression was quite unprintable; nor can
it be euphemized.

There was a shout of laughter from the bystanders, and the young men
in chase of her, and Liza, looking up, saw a big, bearded man whom she
had never seen before. She blushed to the very roots of her hair,
quickly extricated herself from his arms, and, amid the jeers and
laughter of everyone, slid into the door of the nearest house and was
lost to view.




2


Liza and her mother were having supper. Mrs. Kemp was an elderly woman,
short, and rather stout, with a red face, and grey hair brushed tight
back over her forehead. She had been a widow for many years, and since
her husband's death had lived with Liza in the ground-floor front room
in which they were now sitting. Her husband had been a soldier, and
from a grateful country she received a pension large enough to keep
her from starvation, and by charring and doing such odd jobs as she
could get she earned a little extra to supply herself with liquor.
Liza was able to make her own living by working at a factory.

Mrs. Kemp was rather sulky this evening.

'Wot was yer doin' this afternoon, Liza?' she asked.