. What's your
idea?'

'Do you know of anything I could do? It isn't so much to earn money,
as to--to be occupied, and escape from loneliness. But I must have two
afternoons in the week to myself.'

Beatrice nodded and smiled.

'No,--not for that,' Nancy added hastily. 'To see my boy.'

The other appeared to accept this correction.

'All right. I think I can find you something. We're opening a
branch.' She mentioned the locality. 'There'll be a club-room, like
at headquarters, and we shall want some one ladylike to sit there and
answer questions. You wouldn't be likely to see any one that knows you,
and you'd get a good deal of fun out of it. Hours from ten to five, but
Saturday afternoon off, and Wednesday after three, if that would do?'

'Yes, that would do very well. Any payment, at first?'

'Oh, we wouldn't be so mean as all that. Say ten shillings a week till
Christmas, and afterwards we could see'--she laughed--'whether you're
worth more.'

'I know nothing about fashions.'

'You can learn all you need to know in an hour. It's the ladylike
appearance and talk more than anything else.'

Nancy sipped again from her wine-glass.

'When could I begin?'

'The place 'll be ready on Monday week. Next week you might put in a
few hours with us. Just sit and watch and listen, that's all; to get the
hang of the thing.'

'Thank you for being so ready to help me.'

'Not a bit of it. I haven't done yet. There's a condition. If I fix up
this job for you, will you tell me something I want to know?'

Nancy turned her eyes apprehensively.

'You can guess what it is. I quite believe what you told me some time
ago, but I shan't feel quite easy until I know--'

She finished the sentence with a look. Nancy's eyes fell.

'Curiosity, nothing else,' added the other. 'Just to make quite sure it
isn't anybody I've thought of.'

There was a long silence. Leaning forward upon the table, Nancy turned
her wine-glass about and about. She now had a very high colour, and
breathed quickly.

'Is it off, then?' said Beatrice, in an indifferent tone.

Thereupon Nancy disclosed the name of her husband--her lover, as Miss.
French thought him. Plied with further questions, she told where he
was living, but gave no account of the circumstances that had estranged
them. Abundantly satisfied, Beatrice grew almost affectionate, and
talked merrily.

Nancy wished to ask whether Luckworth Crewe had any knowledge of her
position. It was