United States or Tuvalu ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Settled his hash," said Ukridge complacently. "Nothing like resource, Garny my boy. Some men would have gone on letting a good door be ruined." "And spoiled the dog for a ha'porth of water," I said. At this moment Mrs. Ukridge announced that the kettle was boiling. Over a cup of tea Ukridge became the man of business. "I wonder when those fowls are going to arrive.
'Every single ha'porth is wood, I tell ye, barrin' the grates, an' 'tisn't grates they are at all, but shtoves. Sure I saw 'em at Pat M'Donagh's as black as twelve o'clock at night, an' no more a sign of a blaze out of 'em than there's light from a blind man's eye; an' 'tisn't turf nor coal they burns, but only wood agin.
There's always a certain amount of spying in every country the sort of quiet, semi-official kind that doesn't do any one a ha'porth of practical harm. Now and then, of course, somebody gets dropped on, and there's a fuss in the papers, but nobody really bothers much about it. This was different, however. Two or three times things happened that did matter very much indeed.
'Rough on 'is missus an' the kids. Six of 'em, weren't it? 'Aw, assented Jem. 'But she'll get suthin' from the Society funds. 'Not a ha'porth, said Beefy. 'You'll remem no, it was just arter you left. The trades unions decided no benefits would be paid out for them as 'listed. It was Ben Shrillett engineered that. 'E was Secretary an' Treasurer an' things o' other societies as well as ours.
Now everyone was talking of The Avenger and his crimes! Even the man who left their ha'porth of milk at the door each morning had spoken to Bunting about them that very day. Bunting came back to the fire and looked down at his wife with mild excitement. Then, seeing her pale, apathetic face, her look of weary, mournful absorption, a wave of irritation swept through him.
What I felt I can't write down in any case now, things happening as they did after; but at the time, I'd have wrung the woman's neck for a ha'porth of peas. But she thought she knew the circumstances, and being filled with hateful rage that her father was thinking on another, she struck in the only quarter that mattered and, before I knowed it, I was a lone woman and hope dead.
The outline of Roseen's pretty face and head stood out cameo-like against the background of sunlit stone; Mike's gaze fastened itself there and could not detach itself. There was a long pause, then with a great effort he forced himself to speak. "Roseen, darlint, there's not a ha'porth of good the two of us goin' on this a-way; we may as well talk out plain.
She'd nothing with her; she was afraid to bring a ha'porth of clothes or anything for fear they should any of 'em tumble that she was going a long way, and, perhaps, follow her up. So she had to hand that over to Warrigal, and trust to him to bring it on some way or other. We saw her before she saw us, and Jim gave a whistle just as he used to do when he was coming home late at night.
"Ladies," said the suitor, "don't disthress yourselves. There wasn't a ha'porth of harm in it me arm was in the right place. I come here by my father's wish an' with your consent, ma'am, to choose one o' your family for my wife. Me clargy wouldn't let me marry the whole of yez, so I have to be content with one, an' I'm after choosin' this one."
I rejoined ruefully, for I knew there wouldn't be much left if the gunroom fellows had cleared out. "What did Doctor Nettleby say was the matter with me, eh?" "He s'id ye wor a comet, sor." "A comet?" I repeated, laughing. "You're making a mistake, corporal." "The divil a ha'porth, sor. He called ye that same." "Nonsense, man!" I said.
Word Of The Day