“It’s all right,” ses Emma.  “He’s got a very jealous disposition, poor fellow; and me and Sophy have been telling ’im about a young man just to tease ’im.  We’ve been describing him to ’imself all along, and he thought it was somebody else.”

She caught Charlie’s eye, and all in a flash he saw ’ow he ’ad been done.  Some of ’em began to laugh, and Mrs. Jennings put her ’and on his and gave it a squeeze.  He sat there struck all of a heap, wondering wot he was going to do, and just at that moment there was a knock at the street door.

“I’ll open it,” he ses.

He jumped up before anybody could stop ’im and went to the door.  Two seconds arter Ted Denver followed ’im, and that is last he ever saw of Charlie Brice, he was running down the road without ’is hat as hard as he could run.

[Illustration:  “He was running down the road without ’is hat as hard as he could run.”]