Nora Purdy silently poured him out a cup of tea.

'Want a bit o' my bread and drippin'?' said Muriel Baggaley to him.

'Ay, give us a bit.'

And he began to eat his piece of bread.

'There's no place like home, girls,' he said.

They all looked at him as he uttered this piece of impudence. He seemed
to be sunning himself in the presence of so many damsels.

'Especially if you're not afraid to go home in the dark,' said Laura
Sharp.

'Me! By myself I am.'

They sat till they heard the last tram come in. In a few minutes Emma
Houselay entered.

'Come on, my old duck!' cried Polly Birkin.

'It _is_ perishing,' said Emma, holding her fingers to the fire.

'But--I'm afraid to, go home in, the dark,' sang Laura Sharp, the tune
having got into her mind.

'Who're you going with tonight, John Thomas?' asked Muriel Baggaley,
coolly.