on
the whole of their outward way; lasted so long that Laura, who was
speedily finished with her contribution, grew quite stupefied with
listening to the other two.

Collins Street was now as empty as a bush road. The young people went
into Bourke Street, where, for want of something better to do, they
entered the Eastern Market and strolled about inside. The noise that
rose from the livestock, on ground floor and upper storey, was
ear-splitting: pigs grunted; cocks crowed, turkeys gobbled, parrots
shrieked; while rough human voices echoed and re-echoed under the lofty
roof. There was a smell, too, an extraordinary smell, composed of all
the individual smells of all these living things: of fruit and
vegetables, fresh and decayed; of flowers, and butter, and grain; of
meat, and fish, and strong cheeses; of sawdust sprinkled with water,
and freshly wet pavements--one great complicated smell, the piquancy of
which made Laura sniff like a spaniel. But after a very few minutes
Tilly, whose temper was still short, called it a "vile stink" and
clapped her handkerchief to her nose, and so they hurried out, past
many enticing little side booths hidden in dark corners on the ground
floor, such as a woman without legs, a double-headed calf, and the like.

Outside it had begun to rain; they turned into a Waxworks Exhibition.
This was a poor show, and they were merely killing time when the
announcement caught their eye that a certain room was open to "Married
People Only". The quips and jokes this gave rise to again were as
unending as those about the umbrella; and Laura grew so tired of them,
and of pretending to find them funny, that her temper also began to
give way; and she eased her feelings by making the nippy mental note on
her companions, that jokes were evidently "in the blood".

When they emerged, it was time for the girls to return to school. They
took a hansom, Bob accompanying them. As they drove, Laura sitting
sandwiched between the other two, it came over her with a rush what a
miserable failure the day had been. A minute before, her spirits had
given a faint flicker, for Bob had laid his arm along the back of the
seat. Then she saw that he had done this just to pull at the little
curls that grew on Tilly's neck. She was glad when the cab drew up,
when Tilly ostentatiously took the fat half-crown from her purse, and
Bob left them at the gate with a: "Well, so long, ladies!"

The boarders spent the evening in sewi