ounds.

'So I made him take five pounds off the bill, and then overpaid him to
be quit of him altogether, though it's a fine suite, after all,' said
Mrs. Morrison when recounting her transaction with the not too reputable
tradesman, who, for his part, was not sorry to have done with Mrs.
Morrison, whose shrewd questions and business knowledge made him feel
very uncomfortable, as did some of her plain comments on his behaviour.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

VAVA GETS A SHOCK.

The days flew by until the eventful Friday when there was the
prize-giving, the play of Dante, in which Vava had the role of heroine,
and, to wind up, the dinner-party and theatre afterwards.

'I'm glad we have had all this to look forward to,' said Vava on Friday
morning as they both, in very pretty black embroidered frocks, were
going up to the City.

'Yes,' agreed Stella, not too cordially, for though she was glad to go
to the prize-giving and see the play, since Vava was in it, still
neither of these things gave her unalloyed pleasure. At the prize-giving
she would be surrounded by the parents of these girls, whom she did not
expect to be very refined. As to the play, she, as a student and lover
of Dante, objected to its being acted, though she did not say so to
Vava. And as for the two other pleasures to which Vava was looking
forward so eagerly, Stella did not care for them at all, and was only
going to please Vava, whose great day it was.

'It has taken our mind off other worries,' announced Vava; and Stella,
looking at her sister, noticed with a pang that the bright young face
was paler and graver than it usually was, and realised that this week
had been a trying one for her, though quite how trying she did not know,
for Vava had not told her of her own private worry with Miss Briggs at
school.

'We are going to have a very nice day, quite a long day of pleasure,'
said Stella, smiling kindly at her sister.

'Yes,' agreed Vava, and she brightened up, for she had half-feared that
Stella would either back out of the dinner on some excuse or another, or
else go against her will and be stiff.

'I am afraid I shall be late for the prize-giving, for I cannot very
well ask to be let off an afternoon the very first week I am with these
people,' observed Stella.

'What a pity! But never mind, I will keep a seat for you,' replied Vava
as she said good-bye.

However, the first thing her new employer said to her was, 'I shall not
be here aft