step in
and drink a cup of tea."

Joanna climbed down and kissed Ellen--her cheek was warm and moist, and
her hair hung rough about her ears, over one of which the orange toque,
many times set right, had come down in a final confusion. Ellen on the
other hand was as cool as she was white--and her hair lay smooth under a
black velvet fillet. Of late it seemed as if her face had acquired a
brooding air; it had lost its exotic look, it was dreamy, almost
virginal. Joanna felt her sister's kiss like snow.

"Is tea ready?"

"No--it's only half-past three. But you can have it at once. You look
tired. Why didn't you send a wire, and I'd have had the trap to meet
you."

"I never troubled, and I've managed well enough. Ain't you coming in,
Mrs. Furnese?"

"No, thank you, Miss Godden--much obliged all the same. I've my man's
tea to get, and these fowls to see to."

She felt that the sisters would want to be alone. Joanna would tell
Ellen all about her failure, and Mene Tekel and Nan would overhear as
much as they could, and tell Broadhurst and Crouch and the other men,
who would tell the Woolpack bar, where Mr. Furnese would hear it and
bring it home to Mrs. Furnese.... So her best way of learning the truth
about the Appeal and exactly how many thousands Joanna had lost depended
on her going home as quickly as possible.

Joanna, was glad to be alone. She went with Ellen into the cool
parlour, drinking in the relief of its solid comfort compared with the
gimcrackiness of the parlour at Lewisham.

"I'm sorry about your Appeal," said Ellen--"I saw in to-day's paper that
you've lost it."

Joanna had forgotten all about the Appeal--it seemed twenty-four years
ago instead of twenty-four hours that she had come out of the Law Courts
and seen Bertie standing there with the pigeons strutting about his
feet--but she welcomed it as a part explanation of her appearance, which
she saw now was deplorable, and her state of mind, which she found
impossible to disguise.

"Yes, it's terrible--I'm tedious upset."

"I suppose you've lost a lot of money."

"Not more than I can afford to pay"--the old Joanna came out and boasted
for a minute.

"That's one comfort."

Joanna looked at her sister and opened her mouth, but shut it as Mene
Tekel came in with the tea tray and Arthur Alce's good silver service.

Mene set the tea as silently as the defects of her respiratory apparatus
would admit, and once again Joanna sighed with relief