ut suddenly a sense of
shame came over her, and casting down her head so that she might not
see him, she said:

'I think I'll be off 'ome an' see 'ow mother's gettin' on.' And before
Polly could say anything she had slipped away and entered her own
house.

Mother was not getting on at all well.

'You've come in at last, you ----, you!' snarled Mrs. Kemp, as Liza
entered the room.

'Wot's the matter, mother?'

'Matter! I like thet--matter indeed! Go an' matter yerself an' be
mattered! Nice way ter treat an old woman like me--an' yer own mother,
too!'

'Wot's up now?'

'Don't talk ter me; I don't want ter listen ter you. Leavin' me all
alone, me with my rheumatics, an' the neuralgy! I've 'ad the neuralgy
all the mornin', and my 'ead's been simply splittin', so thet I
thought the bones 'ud come apart and all my brains go streamin' on the
floor. An' when I wake up there's no one ter git my tea for me, an' I
lay there witin' an' witin', an' at last I 'ad ter git up and mike it
myself. And, my 'ead simply cruel! Why, I might 'ave been burnt ter
death with the fire alight an' me asleep.'

'Well, I am sorry, mother; but I went aht just for a bit, an' didn't
think you'd wike. An' besides, the fire wasn't alight.'

'Garn with yer! I didn't treat my mother like thet. Oh, you've been a
bad daughter ter me--an' I 'ad more illness carryin' you than with all
the other children put togither. You was a cross at yer birth, an'
you've been a cross ever since. An' now in my old age, when I've
worked myself ter the bone, yer leaves me to starve and burn to
death.' Here she began to cry, and the rest of her utterances was lost
in sobs.

* * * * *

The dusk had darkened into night, and Mrs. Kemp had retired to rest
with the dicky-birds. Liza was thinking of many things; she wondered
why she had been unwilling to meet Jim in the morning.

'I was a bally fool,' she said to herself.

It really seemed an age since the previous night, and all that had
happened seemed very long ago. She had not spoken to Jim all day, and
she had so much to say to him. Then, wondering whether he was about,
she went to the window and looked out; but there was nobody there. She
closed the window again and sat just beside it; the time went on, and
she wondered whether he would come, asking herself whether he had been
thinking of her as she of him; gradually her thoughts grew vague, and
a kind of mist came over them. She