when 'e's sober.' She smiled quite affectionately as she said this.

'Wot did yer do, then?' asked Liza.

'Well, as I wos tellin' yer, I went to the 'orspital, an' the doctor
'e says to me, "My good woman," says 'e, "you might have been very
seriously injured." An' me not been married eighteen months! An' as I
was tellin' the doctor all about it, "Missus," 'e says ter me, lookin'
at me straight in the eyeball. "Missus," says 'e, "'ave you been
drinkin'?" "Drinkin'?" says I; "no! I've 'ad a little drop, but as for
drinkin'! Mind," says I, "I don't say I'm a teetotaller--I'm not, I
'ave my glass of beer, and I like it. I couldn't do withaht it, wot
with the work I 'ave, I must 'ave somethin' ter keep me tergether. But
as for drinkin' 'eavily! Well! I can say this, there ain't a soberer
woman than myself in all London. Why, my first 'usband never touched a
drop. Ah, my first 'usband, 'e was a beauty, 'e was."'

She stopped the repetition of her conversation and addressed herself
to Liza.

''E was thet different ter this one. 'E was a man as 'ad seen better
days. 'E was a gentleman!' She mouthed the word and emphasized it with
an expressive nod.

''E was a gentleman and a Christian. 'E'd been in good circumstances
in 'is time; an' 'e was a man of education and a teetotaller, for
twenty-two years.'

At that moment Liza's mother appeared on the scene.