a couple of days and
think nothing of it."

"I thought you were my friend," said Faith again helplessly. "And here
you are driving me back to him. I should never have married him if I'd
known what I know now. I'd rather have starved...."

"You've never tried starving," was Peg's unsympathetic response. "And
you're talking silly. He's all right, as far as you know him, anyway,
and what he does in business is neither here nor there, as you might
say."

She considered Faith with meditative eyes; then suddenly she broke out:
"Here! Will you go and live with him if he lets me come, too?"

Faith looked up with a faintly dawning hope, which faded quickly.

"He'd never let you," she said. "He wouldn't even have the twins."

"He was quite right there," Peg declared. "They'd be a nuisance. But I'm
different. I could see to things for you and lend a hand in the house,
too, if you like. I've a great mind to ask him--what do you say?"

"It wouldn't be so bad if you came."

"We could have a fine time," said Peg, her eyes glowing. Already she saw
Forrester handing out money for her wardrobe as well as for his wife's.
Already she saw herself driving in his car and turning into a lady. She
was sure she could live up to the part; she had brains, even if her
education had been poor; but she had not got that inherent something
which had come to Faith from her father and which made all the
difference between the two girls.

"Well," she insisted, "shall I ask him?"

"If you like; but he won't let you, I know."

Peg did not believe that; she believed that Forrester would be glad to
have his wife on any terms. When next she saw him she approached the
subject with easy confidence.

The Beggar Man listened to her quietly and courteously, and when she
had finished he smiled a little--a smile that somehow made her
uncomfortable.

"It's a kind suggestion," he said, "but not possible. We shall have to
live in my flat for the present, Miss Fraser"--he was always most
punctilious about addressing Peg as Miss Fraser--"and I am afraid there
would not be room for you." He hesitated. It was in his mind to say that
in the future the friendship between the two girls would have to cease,
but in the face of all that Peg had done for him he could not utter the
words.

"I hope Faith will see you often," he added helplessly, man-like, saying
the very opposite to the thing he wished to say.

"Oh, I dare say she will," Peg said laconically. She