She perspired freely, and was not a little disconcerted by the appearance of her visitor.

Her moon-face had a simple and not disagreeable look.
'You won't mind me a-getting on with my work the whiles I talk, mum ?' she said.

'The men's tied to time, most of em, and I've often lost a customer by keepin' him waitin'.

They're not too sweet-tempered in these parts.

I was born and bred in Peckham myself, and only come here when I married my second husband, which he's a plumber by trade.