Maude stood beside the back bar telephone, drumming her impatient fingers and almost jumped out of her skin when the piercing bell broke into her reverie. She snatched the phone out of its rest, "Yes?" She listened, "Kilburn? Why there? Well, when the bleedin" "ell will you be here, this lot will be as drunk as skunks by the time you get "ere..." and she turned the phone to face the bar so the caller could hear the party in full swing, the piano banging out the old songs, the crowd singing along, "... hear that? Well guess who"s paying for all this as they drink me out of booze, house and home? Me, that"s who." She listened some more and then banged the phone down.
"Who was that?" Bess asked.
With her hand firmly on Bess"s bottom, "I will tell yer, but it"s a secret for now, okay?
"Yes,
