f public-house. She was plainly dying. She was told she
shouldn't be out in the rain. "I mustn't go in yet," she said. "_This_
is what he gave me," and she began to cry. In her hand were two pennies
silvered over to look like half-crowns.'

'I don't believe that story!' Mrs. Heriot announced. 'It's just the sort
of thing some sensation-monger trumps up. Now, who tells you these----?'

'Several credible people. I didn't believe them till----'

'Till?' Jean came nearer.

'Till I saw for myself.'

'_Saw?_' exclaimed Mrs. Heriot. 'Where----?'

'In a low lodging-house not a hundred yards from the church you want a
new organ for.'

'How did _you_ happen to be there?'

'I was on a pilgrimage.'

'A pilgrimage?' echoed Jean.

Miss Levering nodded. 'Into the Underworld.'

'_You_ went!' Even Lady John was aghast.

'How could you?' Jean whispered.

'I put on an old gown and a tawdry hat----' She turned suddenly to her
hostess. 'You'll never know how many things are hidden from a woman in
good clothes. The bold free look of a man at a woman he believes to be
destitute--you must _feel_ that look on you before you can understand--a
good half of history.'

Mrs. Heriot rose as her niece sat down on the footstool just below the
writing-table.

'Where did you go--dressed like that?' the girl asked.

'Down among the homeless women, on a wet night, looking for shelter.'

'Jean!' called Mrs. Heriot.

'No wonder you've been ill,' Lady John interposed hastily.

'And it's like _that_?' Jean spoke under her breath.

'No,' came the answer, in the same hushed tone.

'No?'

'It's so much worse I dare not tell about it, even if you weren't here I
couldn't.'

But Mrs. Heriot's anger was unappeased. 'You needn't suppose, darling,
that those wretched creatures feel it as we would.'

Miss Levering raised grave eyes. 'The girls who need shelter and work
aren't _all_ serving-maids.'

'We know,' said Mrs. Heriot, with an involuntary flash, 'that all the
women who make mistakes aren't.'

'That is why _every_ woman ought to take an interest in this,' said Miss
Levering, steadily; 'every girl, too.'

'Yes. Oh, yes!' Jean agreed.

'No.' Lady John was very decisive. 'This is a matter for us older----'

'Or for a person who has some special knowledge,' Mrs. Heriot amended,
with an air of sly challenge. '_We_ can't pretend to have access to such
sources of information as Miss Levering.'

'Yes, you can'--she met Mrs. Heriot'