y.'

'Oh, indeed?' said Edward with increasing interest. 'Have you got a post
as companion?'

'Well, not exactly,' said Victoria. She realised that her story was not
very easy to tell a man like Edward. He looked at her sharply. His face
flushed. His brow puckered. With both hands he grasped his watch-chain.

'I hope, Victoria,' he said severely, 'that you are not adopting an
occupation unworthy of a lady. I mean I know you couldn't,' he added,
his severity melting into nervousness.

'I suppose nothing's unworthy,' said Victoria; 'the fact is, Ted, I'm
afraid you won't like it much, but I'm going on the stage.'

Edward started and flushed like an angry boy. 'On the . . . the stage?'
he gasped.

'Yes,' said Victoria quietly. 'I've got an engagement for six months to
play at Vichy and other places in France. I only get six pounds a month
but they pay all the expenses. I'll have quite thirty pounds clear when
I come back. What do you think of that?'

'It's . . . it's awful,' cried Edward, losing all self-consciousness.
'How can you do such a thing, Vic? If it were in London, it would be
different. You simply can't do it.'

'Can't?' asked Victoria, raising her eyebrows. 'Why?'

'It's not done. No really Vic, you can't do it.' Edward was evidently
disturbed. Fancy a sister of his . . . It was preposterous.

'I'm sorry, Ted,' said Victoria, 'but I'm going on Wednesday. I've
signed the agreement.'

Edward looked at her almost horror-struck. His spectacles had slid down
to the sharp tip of his nose.

'You are doing very wrong, Victoria,' he said, resuming his pedagogic
gravity. 'You could have done nothing that I should have disapproved of
as much. You should have looked out for something else.'

'Looked out for something else?' said Victoria with the suspicion of a
sneer. 'Look here, Ted. I know you mean well, but I know what I'm doing;
I haven't been in London for six months without finding out that life is
hard on women like me. I'm no good because I'm too good for a poor job
and not suitable for a superior one. So I've just got to do what I can.'

'Why didn't you try for a post as companion?' asked Edward with a half
snarl.

'Try indeed! Anybody can see you haven't had to try, Ted. I've tried
everything I could think of, agencies, societies, papers, everything. I
can't get a post. I must do something. I've got to take what I can get.
I know it now; we women are just raw material. The world uses as much of