It was accepted as a quaint effort of humour.

Weary Willie was applauded, and his appearance, when he rose to his feet, occasioned fresh merriment.
The "make-up" of Mr.Crips was certainly very effective, but with the exception of the false nose it was nothing but his ordinary habit.

He wore a pair of old grey trousers, lashed up with one brace, and belted with a strip of red material; between the fringed legs of this garment and his broken canvas shoes the tops of socks, one white, the other plaid, were plainly visible.

The fact that they were only tops, and not whole socks, was not to be missed, as they had worked up, and an inch of bare ankle protruded.

Nickie's coat was an old black Beaufort, from which two buttons' hung on grey threads, which was split half-way up the back, and from below the tails of which fluttered strips of torn lining.