gin, I sye three cheers
fer the young gent and little lady. Come on, now, 'Ip, 'ip, 'ip,
'_ooray_! Now, little lady, you come 'ere. That's fine, that is! Now
'oo'll 'ave a meat pie? 'Oo's fer a meat pie? Come on, Missus! That's
right. We'll _all_ 'ave meat pies! This 'ere's sumfin _like_
Christmas, eh? We've not 'ad a Christmas like this--not for many a
long year. Now, 'urry up, Kid. Don't spend all yer time larfin'. Now,
ladies an' gents, 'oo's fer a sausage roll? All of us? Come on, then!
I mustn't eat too 'eavy or I won't be able to sing to yer aterwards,
will I? I've got some fine songs, young gent. And Kid 'ere 'll dance
fer yer. She's a fine little dancer, she is! Now, come on, ladies an'
gents, sandwiches? More pies? Come on!"

They laughed and chattered merrily. The woman sat up in bed, her eyes
bright and her cheeks flushed. To William and Joan it was like some
strange and wonderful dream.

And at that precise moment Mrs. Brown had sunk down upon the nearest
dining-room chair on the verge of tears, and twenty pairs of hungry
horrified eyes in twenty clean, staring, open-mouthed little faces
surveyed the bare expanse of the dining-room table. And the cry that
went up all round was:--

"_Where's William?_"

And then:--

"_Where's Joan?_"

They searched the house and garden and stable for them in vain. They
sent the twenty enraged guests home supperless and aggrieved.

"Has William eaten _all_ our suppers?" they said.

"Where _is_ he? Is he dead?"

"People will never forget," wailed Mrs. Brown. "It's simply dreadful.
And where _is_ William?"

They rang up police-stations for miles around.

"If they've eaten all that food--the two of them," said Mrs. Brown
almost distraught, "they'll _die_! They may be dying in some hospital
now! And I do wish Mrs. Murford would stop ringing up about Sadie's
cloak. I've told her it's not here!"

Meantime there was dancing, and singing, and games, and
cracker-pulling in a small house in a back street not very far away.

"I've never had such a _lovely_ time in my life," gasped the Kid
breathlessly at the end of one of the many games into which William
had initiated them. "I've never, never, _never_----"

"We won't ferget you in a 'urry, young man," her father added, "nor
the little lady neither. We'll 'ave many talks about this 'ere!"

Joan was sitting on the bed, laughing and panting, her curls all
disordered.

"I wish," said William wistfully, "I wish you'd le