regretfully. And, after a rather intent interval of silent scrutiny:
"You're a _good_ girl, too.... Say, you _do_ get pretty lonely
sometimes, don't you, dear?"

Athalie flushed and shook her head. Mrs. Bellmore lighted another
cigarette from the smouldering remnant of the previous one, and flung
the gilt-tipped remains through the window.

"Ten to one it hits a crook if it hits anybody," she remarked. "This
is a fierce neighbourhood,--all sorts of joints, and then some. But I
like my rooms. I don't guess you'll be bothered. A girl is more likely
to get spoken to in the swell part of town. Well,--" she struggled to
her fat feet--"I'll be going. If you're lonely, drop in during the
evening. I'm at the office all day except Sundays and holidays."

They stood, confronted, looking at each other for a moment. Then,
impulsively the fat woman offered her hand:

"Don't be afraid of me," she said. "I may look crooked, but I'm not.
Your mother wouldn't mind my knowing you."

She held Athalie's narrow hand for a moment, and the girl looked into
the faded eyes.

"Thank you for coming," she said. "I _was_ lonely."

"Good girls usually are. It's a hell of an alternative, isn't it? I
don't mean to be profane; hell is the word. It's hell either way for a
girl alone."

Athalie nodded silently. Mrs. Bellmore looked at her, then glanced
around the room, curiously.

"Hello," she said abruptly, "what's that?"

Athalie's eyes followed hers: "Do you mean the crystal?"

"Yes.... Say--" she turned to Athalie, nodding profound emphasis on
every word she uttered:--"Say, I _thought_ there was something else
to you--something I couldn't quite get next to. Now I know what's been
bothering me about you. You're clairvoyant!"

Athalie's cheeks grew warm: "I am not a medium," she said. "That
crystal is not my own."

"That may be. Maybe you don't think you are a medium. But you are,
Miss Greensleeve. _I_ know. I'm a little that way, too,--just a very
little. Oh, I could go into the business and fake it of course,--like
all the others--or most of them. But you are the real thing. Why," she
exclaimed in vexation, "didn't I know it as soon as I laid eyes on
you? I certainly was subconscious of something. Why you could do
anything you pleased with the power you have if you'd care to learn
the business. There's money in it--take it from me!"

Athalie said, after a few moments of silence: "I don't think I
understand. Is there a way of--of dev