In her heart she rejoiced
that Bob knew no craving for strong liquor. Towards the end of the
journey the young man with the concertina passed round his hat.
Clem Peckover had come by the same train; she was one of a large
party which had followed close behind Bob and Pennyloaf to the
railway station. Now they followed along the long corridors into the
'Paliss,' with many a loud expression of mockery, with hee-hawing
laughter, with coarse jokes. Depend upon it, Clem was gorgeously
arrayed; amid her satellites she swept on 'like a stately ship of
Tarsus, bound for the isles of Javan or Gadire;' her face was
aflame, her eyes flashed in enjoyment of the uproar. Jack Bartley
wore a high hat--Bob never had owned one in his life--and about
his neck was a tie of crimson; yellow was his waistcoat, even such a
waistcoat as you may see in Pall Mall, and his walking-stick had a
nigger's head for handle. He was the oracle of the maidens around
him; every moment the appeal was to 'Jeck! Jeck!' Suke Jollop, who
would in reality have preferred to accompany Bob and his allies,
whispered it about that Jack had two-pound-ten in his pocket, and
was going to spend every penny of it before he left the 'Paliss'--
yes, 'every bloomin' penny!'
Thus early in the day, the grounds were of course preferred to the
interior of the glass house.
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