employment. Good morning."

But in going over the threshold she swayed a little, because she had
one of her bilious headaches and had eaten nothing since rising. Those
headaches had been a feature of the establishment ever since Caroline
would remember, and she recalled "Aunt Ellen" arraying a spotless tray
in the kitchen while she herself sat eating gingerbread by the table.
So all the kindnesses she had experienced in that house came back to
war with this new spirit of prickly independence, and as she was
fundamentally good-natured, she felt impelled to say impulsively: "Miss
Ethel, I'll tell you what I could do. I might sleep here for a week or
two and light the fire, and get breakfast ready and do any odd jobs for
you. I should have time for that before I went out. One fortnight in
the month I should only act as supply during meal hours--and that will
leave me a lot of time during the day. I'll be glad to come and do
that for my board and lodging, if you like: I'm not a big eater. Only
I must have my nights free and no fixed time for getting in, of course."

Miss Ethel put her hand to her swimming head. Even in this extremity
she could hardly bring herself to consider such a proposal. But the
thought of washing up those greasy dishes after lunch was so
intolerable that everything else faded into the background, and she had
to humiliate herself for the sake of necessity. "Very well," she said
faintly. "I shall be glad to accept your offer for the time being. We
will talk about the remuneration later, but I think you can trust Mrs.
Bradford and myself not to treat you unfairly."

"I'm not afraid of that," said Caroline, half ashamed: still she had to
have it clear about her freedom. "You do understand about the
evenings, though? Because I may want to go with Wilf--he's my friend,
you know--to one of those dances on the prom., and then I shouldn't be
back until after twelve."

"Yes, I understand," said Miss Ethel. "I'm much obliged to you," she
forced herself to add, trying to rise above the dizziness which made
her unable to think clearly.

"Then I'll be off and see if I can catch Willis with my box," said
Caroline, hurrying away down the path.

Miss Ethel watched her go, wondering in a heavy sort of way if the girl
would come back. It would not be in the least surprising if she failed
to do so. Well, you could only take things as they came. Nothing was
as it used to be. You couldn't calculat