Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/96

 "It's a lie!" Clem's epithet was too vigorous for reproduction. "Sukey Jollop saw you with her down by the meat-market, an' Jeck Bartley saw you too."

"Jeck did?" He laughed with obstreperous scorn. "Why, Jeck's gone to Homerton to his mother till Saturday night. Don't be such a bloomin' fool! Just because Suke Jollop's dead nuts on me, an' I won't have nothin' to say to her, she goes tellin' these bloomin' lies. When I see her next, I'll make her go down on her marrow-bones an' beg my pardon. See if I don't just!"

There was an engaging frankness in Bob's way of defending himself which evidently impressed Miss Peckover, though it did not immediately soothe her irritation. She put her arms akimbo, and examined him with a steady suspicion which would have disconcerted most young men. Bob, however, only laughed more heartily. The scene was prolonged. Bob had no recourse to tenderness to dismiss the girl's jealousy. His self-conceit was supreme, and had always stood him