Jonah gave a selection on the mouth-organ. Then Barney, who was growing
hoarse, winked maliciously at Jonah and Ada, and struck into his
masterpiece, "Trinity Church". It was the success of the evening.


She told me her age was five-and-twenty,
Cash in the bank of course she'd plenty,
I like a lamb believed it all,
I was an M.U.G.;
At Trinity Church I met my doom,
Now we live in a top back room,
Up to my eyes in debt for 'renty',
That's what she's done for me.


The chorus rang out with a deafening roar. The guests, tickled by the
words that fell so pat, twisted and squirmed with laughter, digging their
fingers into their neighbours' ribs to emphasize the details. But Barney,
in trying to imitate a stumpy man with an umbrella, as the song demanded,
tripped and lay where he fell, too fatigued to rise.

Then, saddened by the beer they had drunk, they grew sentimental.
Mrs Swadling, who never let herself be asked twice, for fear of being
thought shy, led off with a pathetic ballad. She sang in a thin,
quavering voice, staring into, vacancy with glassy eyes like the blind
beggars at the corner, dragging the tune till it became a wail--a dirge
for lost souls.


Some are gone from us for ever,