Produced by Al Haines. _SIXPENNY_ :: _PIECES_ :: _BY A. NEIL LYONS_ _LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD_ _NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMIX_ WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ Arthur’s. With a Cover-design by W. Graham Robertson. Crown 8vo. Second Edition. TO K. L. S. _*CONTENTS*_ I. Introductory II. Concerning James III. First Impressions IV. Sixpences V. The Hypocrites VI. Conatus VII. On The Properties of Water VIII. The Way of the East IX. The ’Pothecary X. The Mother’s Trade Union XI. The Diagnosis XII. The Tuskers XIII. Art Lovers XIV. Three Babies XV. Ingrates XVI. Baffin’s Find XVII. Mr. West’s Wife XVIII. Three Dialogues XIX. Curing the Curer XX. Milk! XXI. Two Patients XXII. Lost! XXIII. The Survivor XXIV. More of Prudence XXV. A Talk with James XXVI. The April Barge XXVII. The Case of Mrs. Roper XXVIII. The Black Hat XXIX. On Earning Sixpence XXX. Dialogue with a Bride XXXI. An Interlude XXXII. Low Finance XXXIII. The Mothers’ Meeting XXXIV. The Woes of Wilfered XXXV. Still More of Prudence XXXVI. A Birthday Party XXXVII. The Moral Sense XXXVIII. Love and Hate XXXIX. On a Dead Policeman XL. Mrs. Gluckstein XLI. Of Human Kindness XLII. The Last _*SIXPENNY PIECES*_ *I* *INTRODUCTORY* I was a beautiful evening in the month of May. The stars were shining. The beautiful moon looked beautifully forth from her beautiful throne. A nightingale greeted her with a beautiful sonnet. England—our England—bore upon her bosom the beautiful perfume of woodruff and the wild clover. In Bovingdon Street, London, E., a lover was kicking his sweetheart. That was the beginning of this book. I happened to be standing at Mr. Wilson’s coffee stall. And I heard the screaming. And I saw some shadows moving briskly, like the funny silhouettes on the blind at a pantomime. And some of us laughed and some of us whined and one of us blew a whistle. And the constabulary arrived, and with their coming the tumult died. And they brought the girl to the light of the stall, and her face was bruised and swollen and she lost her voice. But before doing so she was able to assure us that "’E done it in drink." "’E" was removed under escort.