Tales of Mean Streets | Page 7

which would have been reason enough by itself, even if
Billy Chope had not been one of them.) Sam did his best for a burst
through and a run, but they pulled and battered him down; and they
kicked him about the head, and they kicked him about the belly; and
they took to their heels when he was speechless and still.
He lay at home for near four weeks, and when he stood up again it was
in many bandages. Lizerunt came often to his bedside, and twice she
brought an orange. On these occasions there was much talk of
vengeance. But the weeks went on. It was a month since Sam had left
his bed; and Lizerunt was getting a little fired of bandages. Also, she
had begun to doubt and to consider bank holiday--scarce a fortnight off.
For Sam was stone broke, and a plush hat was further away than ever.
And all through the later of these weeks Billy Chope was harder than
ever on his mother, and she, well knowing that if he helped her by
taking home he would pocket the money at the other end, had taken to
finishing and delivering in his absence, and threats failing to get at the
money, Billy Chope was impelled to punch her head and grip her by
the throat.
There was a milliner's window, with a show of nothing but fashionable
plush-and-feather hats, and Lizerunt was lingering hereabouts one
evening, when some one took her by the waist, and some one said:
'Which d'yer like, Lizer? The yuller un?'

Lizerunt turned and saw that it was Billy. She pulled herself away, and
backed off, sullen and distrustful. 'Garn!' she said.
'Straight,' said Billy, 'I'll sport yer one ... No kid, I will.'
'Garn!' said Lizerunt once `more. 'Wot yer gittin' at now?'
But presently, being convinced that bashing wasn't in it, she
approached less guardedly; and she went away with a paper bag and the
reddest of all the plushes and the bluest of all the feathers; a hat that
challenged all the Flats the next bank holiday, a hat for which no girl
need have hesitated to sell her soul. As for Billy, why, he was as good
as another; and you can't have everything; and Sam Cardew, with his
bandages and his grunts and groans, was no great catch after all.
This was the wooing of Lizerunt: for in a few months she and Billy
married under the blessing of a benignant rector, who periodically set
aside a day for free weddings, and, on principle, encouraged early
matrimony. And they lived with Billy's mother.

II.
When Billy Chope married Lizerunt there was a small rejoicing. There
was no wedding-party, because it was considered that what there might
be to drink would be better in the family. Lizerunt's father was not, and
her mother felt no interest in the affair, not having seen her daughter for
a year, and happening, at the time, to have a month's engagement in
respect of a drunk and disorderly. So that there were but three of them;
and Billy Chope got exceedingly tipsy early in the day; and in the
evening his bride bawled a continual chorus, while his mother,
influenced by that unwonted quartern of gin the occasion sanctioned,
wept dismally over her boy, who was much too far gone to resent it.
His was the chief reason for rejoicing. For Lizerunt had always been
able to extract ten shillings a week from the pickle factory, and it was
to be presumed that as Lizer Chope her earning capacity would not
diminish; and the wages would make a very respectable addition to the

precarious revenue, depending on the mangle, that Billy extorted from
his mother. As for Lizer, she was married. That was the considerable
thing; for she was but a few months short of eighteen, and that, as you
know, is a little late.
Of course there were quarrels very soon; for the new Mrs. Chope, less
submissive at first than her mother-in-law, took a little breaking in, and
a liberal renewal of the manual treatment once applied in her courting
days. But the quarrels between the women were comforting to Billy; a
diversion and a source of better service.
As soon as might be, Lizer took the way of womankind. This
circumstance brought an unexpected half-crown from the evangelical
rector who had married the couple gratis; for, recognizing Billy in the
street by accident, and being told of Mrs. Chope's prospects, as well as
that Billy was out of work (a fact undeniable), he reflected that his
principles did on occasion lead to discomfort of a material sort. And
Billy, to whose comprehension the half-crown opened a new field of
receipt, would doubtless have long remained a