There was a particularly voluble woman with red arms and an exceedingly persuasive manner, who advanced from a doorway and described the incident from her own point of view.

She had been hanging out the children's things, she began, and so forth; and Frank was declared the aggressor and "'Alb" the innocent victim.
Then the chorus broke out again, and "'Alb," after another fit of hiccupping, corroborated the witnesses in a broken and pathetically indignant voice.
Frank tore himself from one embracing arm and faced round, still held by the other.
"All right; I shan't run away....

Look here; that's a black lie.

He was hitting that old man.

Where is he?
Come on, uncle, and tell us all about it." The old man advanced, his toothless face contorted with inexplicable emotion, and corroborated the red-armed woman, and the chorus generally, with astonishing volubility and emphasis.
"You old fool!" said Frank curtly.