hat she could bear no more.

They had come into Piccadilly, and the light was still warm--it was not
yet dinner-time, but Joanna, who had had no tea, felt suddenly weak and
faint.

"Let's go in there, dear," she said, as they reached the Popular Cafe,
"and have a cup of tea. And don't let's quarrel, for I can't bear it."

He looked down at her drawn face and pity smote him.

"Pore ole girl--aren't you feeling well?"

"Not very--I'm tired, like--sitting listening to all that rubbish."

"Well, let's have an early dinner, and then go to a music-hall. You've
never been to one yet, have you?"

"No," said Joanna. She would have much rather gone straight home, but
this was not the time to press her own wishes. She was only too glad to
have Bertie amicable and smiling again--she realized that they had only
just escaped a serious quarrel.

The dinner, and the wine that accompanied it, made her feel better and
more cheerful. She talked a good deal--even too much, for half a glass
of claret had its potent effect on her fatigue. She looked flushed and
untidy, for she had spent a long day in her hat and outdoor clothes, and
her troubles had taken her thoughts off her appearance--she badly needed
a few minutes before the looking-glass. As Albert watched her, he gave
up his idea of taking her to the Palace, which he told himself would be
full of smart people, and decided on the Alhambra Music Hall--then from
the Alhambra he changed to the Holborn Empire.... Really it was
annoying of Jo to come out with him looking like this--she ought to
realize that she was not a young girl who could afford to let things
slip. He had told her several times that her hat was on one side, ...
And those big earrings she wore ... she ought to go in for something
quieter at her age. Her get-up had always been too much on the showy
side, and she was too independent of those helps to nature which much
younger and better-looking women than herself were only too glad to
use.... He liked to see a woman take out a powder-puff and flick it over
her face in little dainty sweeps....

These reflections did not put him in a good humour for the evening's
entertainment. They went by 'bus to the Holborn Empire where the first
house had already started. Joanna felt a little repulsed by the big,
rowdy audience, smoking and eating oranges and joining in the choruses
of the songs. Her brief experience of the dress circle at Daly's or the
Queen's had not prepared h