porting prints of dogs
chasing a hare, and a whisky calendar. On the table was a small gong,
which Mrs Herring rang. Cassidy himself, the landlord, answered the
ring.

"Good dey, good dey to you, Mrs Herring," he said briskly. "The same
as usual, I suppose? And what'll your friend take?" he added, grinning
at Ada.

"My friend, Mrs Jones," said the housekeeper.

"Glad to meet you," cried Cassidy. "A terrible hill this," he
continued, winking at Ada. "We should never see Mrs Herring, if it
wasn't for the hill."

"Nothing for me," said Ada, shaking her head.

"Now just a drop to keep me company," begged Mrs Herring.

As Ada continued to shake her head, Cassidy went out, and returned with
a bottle of brandy and three glasses on a tray.

"Sure, I forgot to tell you I'm a father again; father number nine,
unless I've lost count. Sure your friend will join us in a glass to
wet the head of the baby?"

He filled three glasses as he spoke, and winked at Mrs Herring. Ada's
brain was in a whirl. She saw that she had been trapped, and that Mrs
Herring was a liar and a comedian. She might as well drink now she was
here. But Jonah would kill her, if he smelt drink on her. Well, let
him! It was little enough fun she got out of life anyhow. She nodded
to Cassidy. They clinked the three glasses and drank, the landlord and
Mrs Herring at a gulp, Ada with tiny sips as if it were poison.

"Well, I'll leave you to your bit of gossip; I think I hear the child
crying," said the landlord, backing out of the door with a grin.

Mrs Herring, who had forgotten her palpitations, filled her glass
again, and sipped slowly to keep Ada company. In half an hour Ada
finished her second glass. A pleasant glow had spread through her
body. The weight was lifted off her mind, and she felt calm and happy.
She thought of Jonah with indifference. What did he matter? She
listened cheerfully to Mrs Herring's ceaseless whisper, only catching
the meaning of one word in ten.

"And many's the time, when my poor dear husband was alive, have I gone
out meaning to throw myself into the harbour, and a drop of cordial has
changed my mind."

Ada nodded to show that she understood that the late Mr Herring was a
brute and a tyrant.

"And then he went with the contingent to South Africa, and the next I
heard was that he was dead. And the thought of my poor dear lying with
his face turned to the skies would have driven me mad, if the docto