the
young gent on the first floor front. But you shouldn't have it.
_Tizer's_ your paper.'

'_Tizer_?' said Victoria interrogatively.

'_Morning Advertiser_, mum; that's the one for advertisements.'

'But how do you know I read the advertisements, Miss Briggs?' asked
Victoria still smiling.

'Oh, mum, excuse the liberty,' said Miss Briggs in great trepidation.
'It's the only sheet I don't find when I comes up to do the bed.
_Tizer's_ the one for you, mum; I had a young lady 'ere, once. Got a job
at the Inverness Lounge, she did. Married a clergyman, they say. He's
divorced her now.'

'That's an encouraging story, Miss Briggs,' said Victoria with a twinkle
in her eye. 'How do you know I want to be a barmaid, though?'

'Oh, one has to be what one can, mum,' said Miss Briggs sorrowfully.
'Sure enough, it ain't all honey and it ain't all jam keeping this
house. The bells, they rings all day and it's the breakfast that's bad
and their ain't blankets enough, and I never 'ad a scuttle big enough to
please 'em for sixpence. But you ain't doing that, mum,' she added after
a pause devoted to the consideration of her wrongs. 'A young lady like
you, she ought to be behind the bar.'

Victoria laughed aloud. 'Thanks for the hint, Miss Briggs,' she said,
'I'll think it over. To-day however, I'm going to try my luck on the
stage. What do you think of that?'

'Going on tour?' cried Miss Briggs in a tone of tense anxiety.

'Well, not yet,' said Victoria soothingly. 'I'm going to see an agent.'

'Oh, that's all right,' said Miss Briggs with ghoulish relief. 'Hope
yer'll get a job,' she added as confidently as a man offering a drink to
a teetotaller. At that moment a fearful clattering on the stairs
announced that Hetty and the pail had suddenly descended to the lower
landing. Liquid noises followed. Miss Briggs rushed out. Victoria jumped
up and slammed her door on the chaotic scene. She returned to the
_Telegraph_. The last six weeks in the Castle Street lodging house had
taught her that these were happenings quite devoid of importance.

Victoria spread out the _Telegraph_, ignored the foreign news, the
leaders and the shocking revelations as to the Government's Saharan
policy; she dallied for a moment over 'gowns for debutantes,' for she
was a true woman, and passed on to the advertisements. She was getting
quite experienced as a reader and could sift the wheat from the chaff
with some accuracy. She knew that she could safe