that it was very good, and might have been heard muttering in
his own room about a 'pretty face' being the very mischief in a City
office, and a nice thing for them all if she was to be allowed to ask
for what she liked, and have it too. 'A proud minx!' he wound up
viciously.

Meanwhile, Stella, being left with the junior partner, began to explain.
'It was not your business correspondence I wished to see, Mr. Jones, but
a private letter.' She stopped, for really it sounded very odd; and then
she continued, 'May I just look at the addresses of the letters,
please?'

'Certainly,' said Mr. Jones, handing her his letters, with a perfectly
grave and business-like face. Not a sign of surprise nor annoyance at
this truly extraordinary request was to be seen on his face, nor even a
gleam of amusement in his eyes.

Stella took the letters and looked them through; but in vain! Vava's
letter was not amongst them! She looked a second time, and then handed
them back, with a worried air, to Mr. Jones, who apparently waited for
an explanation, which Stella did not find easy to give. She could not
understand the non-arrival of the letter, unless, indeed, Vava had
addressed it wrongly. Then it occurred to her that it might have been
delayed and come by the next post; and even as the thought passed
through her mind a clerk brought in some more letters.

'You might open those to save time, as we are late to-day, while I go
through these,' said the junior partner, seeing that Stella was not
ready with an explanation.

But neither among this pile was there one with Vava's childish
handwriting. If Stella had not herself seen the letters delivered she
would have thought that Mr. Jones might have received the letter and
hidden it from her; but she saw them in the head-clerk's hands when she
came in, and watched him lay them on the desk before the junior partner.
Still, there was just a chance that it had been taken before she came
in, being a very unbusiness-like letter, and likely to have been noticed
and put on the top, and she felt she must put her mind to rest; so she
asked, 'Excuse me, Mr. Jones, but are these all the letters that have
arrived this morning?'

'To the best of my knowledge, yes; at least, they are all that I have
received,' he replied; but still he did not ask why.

And, for the life of her, Stella could not get herself to tell him why,
but began mechanically opening the letters and reading them without
taking in w