“Who’s making all this noise?” demanded the former, looking from one to the other.

“I am,” said Mr. Silk, fiercely.  “It’s no use your winking at me; I’m not going to ’ave any more of this nonsense.  ’Melia, you go and get your ’at on and come straight off ’ome with me.”

Mr. Kybird gave a warning cough.  “Go easy, Teddy,” he murmured.

“And don’t you cough at me,” said the irritated Mr. Silk, “because it won’t do no good.”

Mr. Kybird subsided.  He was not going to quarrel with a son-in-law who might at any moment be worth ten thousand pounds.

“Isn’t he mad?” inquired the amazed Mr. Nugent.

“Cert’nly not,” replied Mr. Kybird, moving aside to let his daughter pass; “no madder than you are.  Wot d’ye mean, mad?”

Mr. Nugent looked round in perplexity.  “Do you mean to tell me that Teddy and Amelia are married?” he said, in a voice trembling with eagerness.

“I do,” said Mr. Kybird.  “It seems they’ve been fond of one another all along, and they went up all unbeknown last Friday and got a license and got married.”

“And if I see you putting your ’and on ’er shoulder ag’in” said Mr. Silk, with alarming vagueness.

“But suppose she asks me to?” said the delighted Mr. Nugent, with much gravity.

[Illustration:  “‘But suppose she asks me to?’ said the delighted Mr. Nugent, with much gravity.”]

“Look ‘ere, we don’t want none o’ your non-sense,” broke in the irate Mrs. Kybird, pushing her way past her husband and confronting the speaker.

“I’ve been deceived,” said Mr. Nugent in a thrilling voice; “you’ve all been deceiving me.  Kybird, I blush for you (that will save you a lot of trouble).  Teddy, I wouldn’t have believed it of you.  I can’t stay here; my heart is broken.”

“Well we don’t want you to,” retorted the aggressive Mrs. Kybird.  “You can take yourself off as soon as ever you like.  You can’t be too quick to please me.”

Mr. Nugent bowed and walked past the counter.  “And not even a bit of wedding-cake for me,” he said, shaking a reproachful head at the heated Mr. Silk.  “Why, I’d put you down first on my list.”

He paused at the door, and after a brief intimation that he would send for his effects on the following day, provided that his broken heart had not proved fatal in the meantime, waved his hand to the company and departed.  Mr. Kybird followed him to the door as though to see him off the premises, and gazing after the receding figure swelled with indignation as he noticed that he favoured a mode of progression which was something between a walk and a hornpipe.

Mr. Nugent had not been in such spirits since his return to Sunwich, and, hardly able to believe in his good fortune, he walked on in a state of growing excitement until he was clear of the town.  Then he stopped to consider his next move, and after a little deliberation resolved to pay a visit to Jem Hardy and acquaint him with the joyful tidings.