treets. It was
half-past eleven, a time when, the rush of the morning over, comparative
emptiness awaits the coming of the midday crowds; every minute they were
stopped by the blocks of drays and carriages which come in greater
numbers in the road as men grow fewer on the pavements. The unaccustomed
liberty of the hour did not strike them; for depression, a sense of
impotence before fatality, was upon them. Indeed, they did not pause
until they reached on the Embankment the spot where the two beautiful
youths prepare to fasten on one another their grip of bronze. They sat
down upon a seat and for a while remained silent.

'What are you going to do? Lottie?' asked Victoria.

'Look out for another job, of course,' said Lottie.

'In the same line?' said Victoria.

'I'll try that first,' replied Lottie, 'but you know I'm not particular.
There's all sorts of shops. Nice soft little jobs at photographers, and
manicuring showrooms, I don't mind.'

Victoria, with the leaden weight of former days pressing on her, envied
Lottie's calm optimism. She seemed so capable. But so far as she herself
was concerned, she did not feel sure that the 'other job' would so
easily be found. Indeed the memory of her desperate hunt for work
wrapped itself round her, cold as a shroud.

'But what if you can't get one,' she faltered.

'Oh, that'll be all right,' said Lottie, airily. 'I can live with my
married sister for a bit, but I'll find a job somehow. That doesn't
worry me. What are you thinking of?'

'I don't know,' said Victoria slowly, 'I must look out I suppose.'

'Hard up?' asked Lottie.

'No, not exactly,' said Victoria. 'I'm not rolling in wealth, you know,
but I can manage.'

'Well, don't you go and get stranded or anything,' said Lottie. 'It
doesn't do to be proud. It's not much I can do, but anyhow you let me
know if--' She paused. Victoria put her hand on hers.

'You're a bit of all right, Lottie,' she said softly, her feelings
forming naturally into the language of her adopted class. For a few
minutes the girls sat hand in hand.

'Well, I'd better be going,' said Lottie. 'I'm going to my married
sister at Highgate first. Time enough to look about this afternoon.'

The two girls exchanged addresses. Victoria watched her friend's slim
figure grow smaller and slimmer under her crown of pale hair, then
almost fade away, merge into men and women and suddenly vanish at a
turn, swallowed up. With a little shiver she got up