hat cried:

"Peas an' pies, all 'ot, all 'ot!"

"'Ow'd yer like some peas, Joe?" she cried, dropping the shirts and
seizing a basin.

"I wouldn't mind," said Jonah.

"'Ere, Ada, run an' git threepenn'orth," she cried.

In a minute Ada returned with the basin full of green peas, boiled into
a squashy mass.

Mrs Yabsley went out with the shirts, and Jonah and Ada sat down to the
peas, which they ate with keen relish, after sprinkling them with
pepper and vinegar.

After the green peas, Ada noticed that Jonah was looking furtively
about the room and listening, as if he expected to hear something. She
guessed the cause, and decided to change his thoughts.

"Give us a tune, Joe," she cried.

Jonah took the mouth-organ from his pocket, and rubbed it carefully on
his sleeve. He was a famous performer on this instrument, and on
holiday nights the Push marched through the streets, with Jonah in the
lead, playing tunes that he learned at the "Tiv". He breathed slowly
into the tubes, running up and down the scale as a pianist runs his
fingers over the keyboard before playing, and then struck into a
sentimental ballad.

In five minutes he had warmed up to his work, changing from one tune to
another with barely a pause, revelling in the simple rhythm and facile
phrases of the popular songs. Ada listened spellbound, amazed by this
talent for music, carried back to the gallery of the music-hall where
she had heard these very tunes. At last he struck into a waltz,
marking the time with his foot, drawing his breath in rapid jerks to
accentuate the bass.

"Must 'ave a turn, if I die fer it," cried Ada, springing to her feet,
and, with her arms extended to embrace an imaginary partner, she began
to spin round on her toes. Ada's only talent lay in her feet, and,
conscious of her skill, she danced before the hunchback with the
lightness of a feather, revolving smoothly on one spot, reversing,
advancing and retreating in a straight line, displaying every intricacy
of the waltz. The sight was too much for Jonah, and, dropping the
mouth-organ, he seized her in his arms.

"Wot did yer stop for?" cried Ada. "We carn't darnce without a tune."

"Carn't we?" said Jonah, in derision, and began to hum the words of the
waltz that he had been playing:

White Wings, they never grow weary,
They carry me cheerily over the sea;
Night comes, I long for my dearie--
I'll spread out my White Wings and sail home to thee.