‘Have you ever been from Westminster Bridge to Richmond on one of the Thames steamers?’ she cried.

‘No,’ he said, ‘I can’t say I have.’

‘Well, it’s one of the most VILE experiences I’ve ever had.’ She spoke rapidly and excitedly, the colour high in her cheeks. ‘There was absolutely nowhere to sit down, nowhere, a man just above sang “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep” the WHOLE way; he was blind and he had a small organ, one of those portable organs, and he expected money; so you can imagine what THAT was like; there came a constant smell of luncheon from below, and puffs of hot oily machinery; the journey took hours and hours and hours; and for miles, literally for miles, dreadful boys ran with us on the