A girl on the seat opposite was sewing lace on silkies for her trousseau, working intently in the bad light.
“Another one starting out,” Ted thought.
“What about it?” said the man beside him.
Ted hadn’t been listening.
The ferry had tied up at his landing stage and Ted got off. He tried not to show in his walk that his wife had won five thousand pounds. He felt jaunty and tired at once. He walked up the hill with a bunch of other men, his neighbours. They were still teasing him about the money, they didn’t know how to stop. It was a very still, warm evening. As the sun
descended into the misty bank on the horizon it picked out the delicate shapes of clouds invisibly sunk in the mass, outlining them with a fine thread of gold.
One by one the men dropped out, turning into side streets or opening garden gates till Ted was alone with a single companion, a man who lived in a semi-detached cottage at the end of the street. They were suddenly very quiet and sober. Ted felt the ache around his mouth where he’d been smiling and smiling.
“I’m awfully glad you’ve had this bit of luck.”
“I’m sure you are, Eric,” Ted answered in a subdued voice.
“There’s nobody I’d sooner see have it.”
“That’s very decent of you.”
“I mean it.”
“Well, well, I wasn’t looking for it.”
“We could do with a bit of luck like that in our house.”
“I bet you could.”
“There’s an instalment on the house due next month, and Nellie’s got to come home again. Bob can’t get anything to do. Seems as if we’d hardly done paying for the wedding.”
“That’s bad.”
“She’s expecting, so I suppose Mum and Dad will be let in for all that too.”
“It seems only the other day Nellie was a kid getting round on a scooter.”
“They grow up,” Eric agreed. “It’s the instalment that’s the rub. First of next month. They expect it on the nail too. If we hadn’t that hanging over us it wouldn’t matter about Nellie coming home. She’s our girl, and it’ll be nice to have her about that place again.”
“You’ll be proud as a cow with two tails when you’re a grandpa.”
“I suppose so.”