They went forth presently from the bar, and, after a few paces, Cheeseman took his friend by the coat collar and drew him aside, as if to impart a matter of consequence.
'Two threes of gin!' he said, with a roll of the eye which gave his face a singularly humorous expression.

'That's sixpence.

A tanner, Hood, was the last coin I possessed.

It was to have purchased dinner, a beefsteak pudding, with cabbage and potatoes; but what o' that?
When you and I meet, we drink to old times; there's no getting out of that.' Hood laughed, for once in a really natural way.

His usual abstemiousness made the gin potent.
'Why,' he said, 'I confess to feeling hungry myself; I've only had a sandwich.