MRS PARTRIDGE MINDS THE SHOP Chook caught the last tram home, and found Pinkey asleep in bed with a novelette in her hand.

She had fallen asleep reading it.

The noise of Chook's entry roused her, and she stared at him, uncertain of the hour.
Then, seeing him fully dressed, she decided that it was four o'clock in the morning, and that he was trying to sneak off to Paddy's Market without her.

She was awake in an instant, and her face flushed pink with anger as she jumped out of bed, indignant at being deprived of her share of the unpleasant trip to the markets.

Three times a week she nerved herself for that heartbreaking journey in the raw morning air, resolved never to let Chook see her flinch from her duty.