trils to such an extent, that, to escape from these, she
walked into the kitchen and closed the door. This room was empty, but,
as on her last visit, a fire roared in the kitchener, before which
innumerable rows of little garments were airing. Overpowered by the
stifling heat, Mavis sank on a chair, where a horde of flies buzzed
about her head and tried to settle on her face. She was about to seek
the passage in preference to the stuffy kitchen, when she heard a loud
single knock at the front door. Believing this to be the porter with
her luggage, she went to the door, to find that her surmise was correct.

"Which room shall I take it to, miss?"

"It will do if you put it in the hall," replied Mavis.

When she had paid the man and shut the door, she sat upon her box in
the passage. Jill nestled beside her, whilst Mavis rested with her
fingers pressed well against her ears, to deaden the continual crying
of babies which came from various rooms in the house.

As Mavis thus waited, disconsolate and alone, her heart sank within
her. Her present case seemed to foreshadow the treatment she would
receive at Mrs Gowler's hands during her confinement, which might now
occur at any moment. As she waited, she lost all count of time; her
whole being was concerned with an alteration in her habits of thought,
which had been imminent during the last few months, but which needed a
powerful stimulus to be completely effected. This was now supplied.
Hitherto, when it became a question whether she should consider others
before herself, she had, owing to an instinct in her blood, chosen the
way of self-abnegation. She often suspected that others took advantage
of this unselfishness, but found it hard to do otherwise than she had
always done. Whether it was owing to all she had lately endured, or
because her maternal instinct urged her to think only of her as yet
unborn little one, she became aware of a hardening of heart which
convinced her of the expediency of fighting for her own hand in the
future. Mrs Gowler's absence was the immediate cause of this
manifestation. Had she not loved Perigal so devotedly and trusted him
so completely, she would have left the miserable house in Durley Road
and gone to an expensive nursing home, to insist later upon his meeting
the bill. For all her awakened instinct of self, the fact of her still
deciding to remain at Mrs Gowler's was a yet further sacrifice on the
altar of the loved one. Perhaps this f