Mrs Yabsley just parted them in time.

Chook went swearing up to the corner on the chance of getting a final taste at the "Woolpack." Mrs Yabsley stood on the veranda and watched his departing figure, aching in every joint from the strain of the eventful day.

Cardigan Street was silent and deserted.

The air was still hot and breathless, but little gusts of wind began to rise, the first signs of a coming "buster".

Then she turned to Jonah and Ada, who had followed her on to the veranda, and summed up the day's events.
"All's well that ends well, as the man said when he plaited the horse's tail, but this is a new way of gittin' married on the sly, with all the street to keep the secret.