to marry him?"

"I must."

"But you don't want to?"

"I wouldn't--not if I hadn't got to. I wouldn't marry anybody for a
bit."

"I wouldn't anyhow," said Jenny decidedly.

"Don't talk silly. I've got to."

"Oh, I do think it's a shame. A pretty girl like you, Edie. Men! Can he
keep you?--comfortable and all that?"

"He's got enough, and he expects to make a bit more soon, and then
there's my dressmaking."

"Men!" declared Jenny. "No men for me. I wouldn't trust any man."

"Don't say nothing to mother about it."

"As if I should."

The two sisters went downstairs.

"I'll bring him over soon," said Edie.

"And I'll properly tell him off," said Jenny.

A month went by, and Mr. Albert Harding had many important engagements.
Another month went by and Edie began to fret.

Jenny went over to Brixton to see her sister.

"Looks as if this marriage was only a rumor," she said.

"He hasn't got the time, not for a week or two."

"What?" exclaimed Jenny.

"He's going to take me to the Canterbury to-morrow. He's all right,
Jenny. Only he's busy. He is, really."

Jenny, jolting homewards in the omnibus that night, wondered what ought
to be done. Although she felt to the full the pity of a nice girl like
Edie being driven into a hasty marriage, no alternative presented itself
clearly. She thought with quickening heart, so terrible was the fancy,
how she would act in Edie's place. She would run away out of the world's
eyes, out of London.

Yet Edie did not seem to mind so much.

The malignity of men enraged her. The selfishness and grossness sickened
her. Boys were different; but men, with their conceit and lies, were
beasts. They should never make a fool of her. Never. Never. Then she
wondered if her mother had been compelled to marry. On no other basis
could her father be explained. Men were all alike.

Bert Harding, greasy, dark-eyed, like a dirty foreigner. He was
nice-looking, after a fashion, yes, but even more conceited than most
men. And Edie had _got_ to marry him.

Alfie was on the doorstep when she reached home.

"You?" she said.

"Come over for the night. Got some business in Islington to-morrow
morning."

"Alfie, you know Bert Harding?"

"Yes."

"You've got to make him marry Edie."

"I'll smash his face in if he don't."

"They'll be at the Canterbury to-morrow night."

It was a poor fight in the opinion of the Westminster Bridge Road. Bert
was overmatched. He was perfectly willi