ink we're quite near your home," he said.

"Perhaps you would rather walk the rest of the way? Or shall I come in
and see your mother?"

Faith started up. "Oh, no--I'll walk; I'd much rather."

The taxi stopped and the man got out.

"Well--good-bye. Till to-morrow," he said.

She looked up eagerly.

"Oh, shall I see you again to-morrow?"

"I'll meet you outside Heeler's in the evening."

She looked like a delighted child.

"That will be three days running that I've seen you," she said.

He smiled rather grimly.

"You'll have to see me all day and every day after Saturday," he
answered.

CHAPTER III

"Idling again! That's the third time I've had to speak to you this
morning."

Miss Dell's harsh voice woke Faith from the day-dream, into which she
had fallen over her machine, and set her hurriedly working again.

That the events of yesterday were unreal she was still convinced. A
hundred times since she parted from Nicholas Forrester she had put her
hand into the little bag containing the money he had given her, which
she wore hidden under her frock. That was real enough, at all events.
She was too awed by its possession to think of spending it. It seemed to
her ignorance that all the wealth of the world was hers.

"If I have to speak to you again I shall report you to the manager,"
Miss Dell went on. "We've no time for idlers here, you understand."

Faith said "Yes" meekly enough, but she did not feel meek. Only two more
days and she would be free of this place for ever. She would never have
to trudge to and fro in the heat of the day any more. She could ride in
a taxi or the Beggar Man's car to the end of her life.

She cast a swift glance to the table at which Peg generally worked. It
was empty to-day, and her machine covered up.

Peg was ill--so the other girls had told her. Peg was not coming back
that week.

Faith felt a little chill of apprehension. She missed Peg sorely, and
yet she was glad of her absence. She could not easily forget the strange
way in which her friend had behaved last night in the teashop--how she
had turned and walked away.

After all, what did it matter? And yet ... she wished she could have
taken Peg into her confidence. It was terrible to have nobody in whom
she could confide, terrible to have to keep all these wonderful secrets
locked up in her own heart.

Last night she had almost told her mother. Mrs. Ledley had looked at her
again and again in a puzzle