ot a fool I was to marry
yer," said Chook, bitterly.

A cold wave swept over Pinkey. It flashed through her mind that he was
tired of her; that he thought she wasn't strong enough to do her share
of the work. Well, she could take poison or throw herself into the
harbour.

"Ah!" she said, cold as a stone. "Anythin' else?"

"I mean," said Chook, stumbling for words, "I ought to 'ave 'ad more
sense than ter drag yez out of a good 'ome ter come 'ere an' work like
a bus 'orse."

"Is that all?" inquired Pinkey.

"Yes; wot did yer think?" said Chook, miserably. "It fair gives me the
pip ter see yer 'umpin' a sack round the stalls, when I wanted ter make
yer 'appy an' comfortable."

Pinkey took a long breath of relief. She needn't drown herself, then,
he wasn't tired of her.

"An' who told yer I wasn't 'appy an' comfortable?" she inquired,
"'cause yer can go an' tell 'em it's only a rumour. An' while ye're
about it, yous can tell 'em I've got a good 'ome, a good 'usband, an'
everythin' I want." Here she looked round the dingy room as if daring
it to contradict her. "An' as fer the good 'ome I came from, I wasn't
wanted there, an' was 'arf starved; an' now the butcher picks the best
joint an' if I lift me finger, a big 'ulkin' feller falls over 'imself
ter run an' do wot I want."

Chook listened without a smile. Then his lips twitched and his eyes
turned misty. Pinkey ran at him, crying, "Yer silly juggins, if I've
got yous, I've got all I want." She hung round his neck, crying for
pleasure, and Mrs Higgs knocked on the counter till she was tired
before she got her potatoes.

The wet morning gave Pinkey a sore throat, and that finished Chook. The
shop gave them a bare living, but with a horse and cart he could easily
double their takings, and Pinkey could lie snug in bed while he drove
to Paddy's Market in the morning. He looked round in desperation for
some way of making enough money to buy Jack Ryan's horse and cart,
which were still for sale. He could think of nothing but the two-up
school, which had swallowed all his spare money before he was married.
Since his marriage he had sworn off the school, as he couldn't spare
the money with a wife to keep.

All his life Chook had lived from hand to mouth. He belonged to the
class that despises its neighbours for pinching and scraping, and yet
is haunted by the idea of sudden riches falling into its lap from the
skies. Certainly Chook had given Fortune no