“Never mind,” said the one-eyed man, calling after the girl as she left the room. “I’ll step out by and by, Mary. Keep your spirits up, dear.” Here he went through the not very difficult process of winking upon the company with his solitary eye, to the enthusiastic delight of an elderly personage with a dirty face and a clay pipe.

“Rum creeters is women,” said the dirty-faced man, after a pause.

“Ah! no mistake about that,” said a very red-faced man, behind a cigar.

After this little bit of philosophy there was another pause.

“There’s rummer things than women in this world though, mind you,” said the man with the black eye, slowly filling a large Dutch pipe, with a most capacious bowl.

“Are you married?” inquired the dirty-faced man.

“Can’t say I am.”