's sake alone. A savage retort was on his
tongue, but Mrs Yabsley stepped in.

"Well, Joe, now I see yer dead set on earnin' a livin', I don't mind
tellin' yer I've got somethin' up me sleeve. No, I don't mean a
guinea-pig an' a dozen eggs, like the conjurer bloke I see once," she
explained in reply to his surprised look; "but if yer the man I take
yer for, we'll soon 'ave the pot a-boiling. Many's the weary night
I've spent in bed thinkin' about you w'en I might 'ave bin snorin'.
That reminds me. Did y'ever notice yer can niver tell exactly w'en yer
drop off? I've tried all I know, but ye're awake one minit, an'
chasin' a butterfly wi' a cow's 'ead the next. But that ain't wot I'm
a-talkin' about. Paasch 'e's blue mouldy, an' couldn't catch a snail
unless yer give 'im a start; an' if yer went ter Packard's, yer'd tell
the manager ter go to 'ell, an' git fired out the first week. Yous
must be yer own boss, Joe. I've studied yer like a book, an yer nose
wasn't made that shape for nuthin'."

"W'y, wot's wrong wi' it?" laughed Jonah, feeling his nose with its
powerful, predatory curve.

"Nuthin', if yer listen to me. 'Ave yer got pluck enough ter start on
yer own?" she inquired, suddenly.

"Wot's the use, w'en I've got no beans?" replied Jonah.

"I'll find the beans, an' yer can go an' buy Bob Watkins's shop out as
it stands," said Mrs Yabsley, proudly.

"Fair dinkum!" cried Jonah, in amazement.

Ada put down her novelette and stared, astonished at the turn of the
conversation. It flashed through her mind that her mother had some
mysterious habits. Suppose she were like the misers she had read of in
books, who lived in the gutter, and owned terraces of houses? For a
moment Ada saw herself riding in a carriage, with rings on every
finger, and feathers in her hat, with the childlike faith of the
ignorant in the marvellous.

But Mrs Yabsley was studying some strange hieroglyphics like Chinese,
pencilled on the cupboard. She knitted her brows in the agony of
calculation.

"I can lay me 'ands on thirty pounds in solid cash," she announced.
She spoke as if it were a million. Jonah cried out in amazement; Ada
felt disappointed.

"W'ere is it, Mum? In the bank?" asked Jonah.

"No fear," said Mrs Yabsley, with a crafty smile. "It's as safe as a
church. I was niver fool enough ter put my money in the bank. I know
all about them. Yer put yer money in fer years, an' then, w'en they've
got enough, th