uld be ill or unhappy, and the girl had looked both during the
last few days. She went upstairs at once and tapped at the door, when
Peggy's voice was raised in impatient answer.

"I can't come! Go away! I'm engaged!"

"But I want to speak to you, dear! Please let me in!" she replied in
her clear, pleasant tones; whereupon there was a hasty scamper inside,
and the door was thrown open.

"Oh-h! I didn't know it was you; I thought it was one of the girls.
I'm sorry I kept you waiting."

Mrs Asplin gave a glance around. The gas-fire was lit, but the chair
beside it stood stiffly in the corner, and the cushion was uncrushed.
Evidently, the girl had not been sitting there. The work-basket was in
its accustomed place, and there were no cottons or silks lying about--
Peggy had not been sewing at Christmas presents, as she had half hoped
to find her. A towel was thrown over the writing-table, and a piece of
blotting-paper lay on the floor. A chair was pushed to one side, as if
it had been lately used. That looked as if she had been writing
letters.

"Peggy dear, what are you doing all by yourself in this chilly room?"

"I'm busy, Mrs Asplin. I lit the fire as soon as I came in."

"But a room does not get warm in five minutes. I don't want you to
catch cold and be laid up with a sore throat. Can't you bring your
writing downstairs and do it beside the others?"

"I would rather not. I can get on so much better by myself."

"Are you writing to India--to your mother?"

"N-no, not just now."

"Then really, dear, you must come downstairs! This won't do! Your
mother wished you to have a fire in your room, so that you might be able
to sit here when you wanted to be alone, but she never meant you to make
it a habit, or to spend all your spare time alone. It isn't healthy to
use a room night and day, and to burn so much gas, and it isn't
sociable, Peggy dear. Mellicent has just been complaining that you are
hardly ever with them nowadays. Come along, like a good girl; put the
writing away and amuse yourself downstairs. You have done enough work
for one day. You don't do me credit with those white cheeks."

Peggy stood with her eyes fixed on the carpet without uttering a word.
It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say, "Oh, do let me
stay upstairs as much as I like for a day or two longer. I have a piece
of work on hand which I am anxious to finish. It is a secret, but I
hope to tell you