Then a scuffle followed, with slaps, blows and stifled yells, till Ada's mother, awakened by the noise, knocked on the wall with her slipper.

And this was their romance of love.
Mrs Yabsley was a widow; for Ada's father, scorning old age, had preferred to die of drink in his prime.

The publicans lost a good customer, but his widow found life easier.
"Talk about payin' ter see men swaller knives an' swords!" she exclaimed.

"My old man could swaller tables an' chairs faster than I could buy 'em." So she opened a laundry, and washed and ironed for the neighbourhood.
Cardigan Street was proud of her.

Her eyes twinkled in a big, humorous face; her arm was like a leg of mutton; the floors creaked beneath her as she walked.