ngs had to
come first!" Which was a long speech for Mrs. Lynch and amazingly
comforting to Robin.

She slipped the roll of bank-notes back into the pocket of her dress;
she could not even offer them to Dale, now. "You're dear and patient and
I guess I've been stupid and expected too much. But I shan't make any
more mistakes and I'm going to make the most of my 'beginning'."

"And now, Dale boy, why not have a bit of Mr. Harkness' good coffee?"

But, though Beryl and Robin pressed, Dale refused and slipped away and
Robin had a moment's picture of the triumph of the "horrid" girl when
she saw Dale come into the meeting. Then, remembering the plight of the
Rileys' she was ashamed of herself for not wanting Dale to go. Sitting
around the centre table she and Beryl ate sandwiches while Harkness and
Mrs. Lynch and Mrs. Williams sipped coffee. The fire sputtered and
gleamed cheerfully, and Sir Galahad's scarlet coat made a brilliant
splash of color in the soft glow of the room.

"Who was that big girl with the black eyes?" Robin found the courage to
ask Beryl when the whole dreadful evening was over and they were back at
the Manor.

"Oh, she's Sophie Mack. She and Sarah Castle were chums and worked
together. Dale says she's awfully clever but _I_ think she's horrid. The
way she spoke to him tonight."

Robin agreed that she was horrid. And she hated to think that her Prince
could find this Sophie Mack clever.

Too tired from the disappointing evening to want to talk, and too wide
awake to dream of going to sleep, she lay very still until Beryl's deep
breathing told her her companion had slipped into dreamland. Then she
crept from bed and crouched, a mite of a thing, at the window sill and
stared out into the brilliant night. A moon shone coldly over the snowy
hills, throwing into bold relief the stacks and buildings of the Mills.
Robin recalled that day she had first likened them to a Giant. That day
seemed--so much had happened since and she had grown so much
inside--very long ago and she a silly girl thinking stories about
everything. Her guardian, to amuse her, had talked about finding a Jack
to climb the Beanstalk and kill the monster. She smiled scornfully at
the fancy--so futile in the face of the tremendous misery--and
happiness--that Giant had the power to make!

CHAPTER XVIII

THE LUCKLESS STOCKING

Two hours after Robin's lonely vigil at the window ended, fire destroyed
the empty cottage "up the r