'Have a drink, Suke!' cried Bob, when he heard
her acrimonious charges against Clem and Jack. A pretty girl, Suke,
and with a hat which made itself proudly manifest a quarter of a
mile away. Drink! of course she would drink; that thirsty she could
almost drop! Bob enjoyed this secession from the enemy. He knew
Suke's old fondness for him, and began to play upon it. Elated with
beer and vanity, he no longer paid the least attention to
Pennyloaf's remonstrances; nay, he at length bade her 'hold her
bloomin' row!' Pennyloaf had a tear in her eye; she looked fiercely
at Miss Jollop.
The day wore on. For utter weariness Pennyloaf was constrained to
beg that they might go into the 'Paliss' and find a shadowed seat.
Her tone revived tenderness in Bob; again he became gracious,
devoted; he promised that not another glass of beer should pass his
lips, and Sake Jollop, with all her like, might go to perdition. But
heavens! how sweltering it was under this glass canopy How the dust
rose from the trampled boards! Come, let's have tea. The programme
says there'll be a military band playing presently, and we shall
return refreshed to hear it.
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