Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/134

122 with a lie like that? 'Im! 'Im an' this other one!" He pointed at Burls, his hand shaking. He shook his fist at Sutley, sputtering Cockney oaths. "The two o' them! That 's w'at they 've been up to!"

Burls bellowed "Ho-ho-ho!" convulsed and helpless, unable to defend himself though Yost, in a dancing rage, kicked at his legs and shouted: "Look at 'im! Look at 'im! Because you 've made a fool of yerself—married!"

The girl screamed through the uproar: "Wat 's the matter with 'im? Wat 's the matter with you?"

Her father turned on her. "You d little ! You 'd make a fool o' me, would you?" He raised his fist at her. She darted behind Sutley.

And Sutley—who had been standing quiet in the midst of the confusion, listening, solemnly intent—faced the father with an expression of disturbed pity. Yost was opening and shutting his mouth on an anger that was choked in breathlessness—caught suddenly with pain in the heart—threatening the clown with his raised fist that remained checked in mid-air.

"That 's all right, now," Sutley said. "I don't want none o' what she earns. You needn't get— Mil!"

The old man had collapsed, and Sutley, with that cry to the girl, caught him as he tottered. "Get 's a drink quick."

Burls was still sobbing with the exhaustion of laughter, even when he dragged himself to his feet to assist them. They laid Yost back in the chair from which