You, Caroline!"

"Yes. I lost my latch-key and I can't make them hear. I was afraid I
should startle Miss Ethel if I threw anything up at her window," said
Caroline, speaking quickly. "I didn't know if it might give her a
turn, after that fall of hers. And you can't waken Mrs. Bradford. She
wraps her head up in her petticoat and sleeps like the dead."

"Well, it's a lucky thing I happened to be up finishing the ironing,"
said Mrs. Creddle. "Your uncle wouldn't have liked it if you'd come
hammering at our door and letting the whole street know you were locked
out."

"I didn't lose the key on purpose," said Caroline rather sullenly, as
she followed her aunt into the warm, light kitchen. "I couldn't help
it."

"What made you so late in?" said Mrs. Creddle. "Here, sit you down and
I'll get you a drink of cocoa. Girls never used to be having
latch-keys and careering about at all hours in my day."

"But it isn't your day now, thank goodness!" said Caroline, who was
feeling excited and irritable. "I had a dance on the green after I
came off duty, that was all."

"Prom's been closed a long time," said Mrs. Creddle. "I heard the
next-door folks come back. But we was all young once, and I dare say
you and Wilf have been kissing and making friends again on the way
home. Is that it?"

For some obscure reason this question angered Caroline almost beyond
bearing.

"I told you I'd done with Wilf, and I have," she said rather
hysterically. "I wouldn't let him kiss me now for anything on earth.
I don't know how I ever could fancy him. I----"

"Hush!" said Mrs. Creddle, glancing towards the stairs. "There's your
uncle moving. I'm afraid he won't be best pleased to see you here,
Carrie. And he would have pickle for his tea, though I told him not,
so he's a bit fretty to start with."

Before she had finished speaking Mr. Creddle was upon them, hastily
dressed in night-shirt and trousers. "Now, what's all this?" he said,
and his tone certainly did betray the effect of cheap vinegar on a weak
digestion.

So Mrs. Creddle explained matters while Caroline stood listening.

"Who came home with you?" said Creddle, turning with a dark face
towards the two women. "I saw the bills. Dancing was over a good bit
since. Who brought you home?"

"That's my business," she answered, pale and obstinate.

"Is it? Well, it's my business to take you back to your place," he
said. Then he went on, raising his voice: "Do