e
baby to be brought out. When Mrs Yabsley appeared with the infant in
her arms, she was greeted with yells of admiration. Ada turned crimson
with embarrassment. The women passed it from hand to hand, nursing it
for a few minutes with little cries of emotion.

But suddenly Jonah walked up to Mrs Swadling and took his child in his
arms. And he stood before the crowd, his eyes glittering with pride as
he exhibited his own flesh and blood, the son whose shapely back and
limbs proved that only an accident separated the hunchback from his
fellows. The guests howled with delight, clapping their hands, stamping
their feet, trying to add to the din. It was a triumph, the sensation
of the evening. Then Old Dad, shutting one eye to see more distinctly,
proposed the health of the baby. It was given with a roar. The noise
stimulated Dad to further effort and, swaying slightly, he searched his
memory for a suitable quotation. A patent medicine advertisement
zigzagged across his brain, and with a sigh of relief, he muttered,

"The 'and that slaps the baby rocks the world,"

beaming on the guests with the air of a man who has Shakespeare at his
fingers' ends. There was a dead silence, and Dad looked round in
wonder. Then a woman tittered, and a shout went up that rattled the
windows.

It was nearly twelve when the party broke up, chiefly because the
"Woolpack" was closed and the supply of beer was cut off. Some of the
men had reached the disagreeable stage, maudlin drunk or pugnacious,
anxious to quarrel, but forgetting the cause of dispute. The police,
who had looked on with a tolerant eye, began to clear the footpaths,
shaking the drowsy into wakefulness, threatening and coaxing the
obstinate till they began to stagger homewards.

There was nearly a fight in the cottage. Pinkey's young man had called
to take her home, and Chook had recognized him for an old enemy, a
wool-washer, called "Stinky" Collins on account of the vile smell of
decaying skins that hung about his clothes. Chook began to make love
to Pinkey under his very eyes. And Stinky sat in sullen silence,
refusing to open his mouth. Pinkey, amazed by Chook's impudence and
annoyed that her lover should cut so poor a figure, encouraged him,
with the feminine delight in playing with fire. Then Chook, with an
insolent grin at Stinky, announced that he was going to see Pinkey
home. Mrs Yabsley just parted them in time. Chook went swearing up to
the corner