A Girl of the People

"You have kept us waiting an age! Come along, Bet, do." "She ain't going to funk it, surely!" "No, no, not she,?she's a good 'un, Bet is,?come along, Bet. Joe Wilkins is waiting for us round the corner, and he says Sam is to be there, and Jimmy, and Hester Wright: do come along, now." "Will Hester Wright sing?" suddenly demanded the girl who was being assailed by all these remarks. "Yes, tip-top, a new song from one of the music halls in London. Now then, be you coming or not, Bet?" "No, no, she's funking it," suddenly called out a dancing little sprite of a newspaper girl. She came up close to Bet as she spoke, and shook a dirty hand in her face, and gazed up at her with two mirthful, teasing, wicked black eyes. "Bet's funking it,?she's a mammy's girl,?she's tied to her mammy's apron-strings, he-he-he!" The other girls all joined in the laugh; and Bet, who was standing stolid and straight in the centre of the group, first flushed angrily, then turned pale and bit her lips.