on a chair, and went on writing again immediately.

Margaret thought her one of the prettiest girls she ever seen, and though
that would have been saying a great deal less for her than Margaret
realised, for after all she had not seen many girls pretty or otherwise,
this girl was undoubtedly exceedingly good-looking. She had masses of
wavy chestnut hair, red-brown eyes, and a clear, pale skin.

Arrested thus suddenly on her way to the door by this unexpected remark,
Margaret halted rather awkwardly in the middle of the room uncertain what
to do about her bag.

"I am going for a walk into the town," she said shyly, "and my bag is too
heavy for me to carry with me. May I not leave it here?"

[Illustration: "I AM GOING FOR A WALK INTO THE TOWN," SHE SAID SHYLY.]

The girl raised her eyes again with some impatience. She had obviously
thought the incident closed, and she made reply as shortly as she
could that it was not usually considered safe to leave luggage in
waiting-rooms.

"Then what ought I to do with it, please?" said Margaret.

"Why, put it in the cloakroom of course," returned the other, and this
time her irritation at this continued interruption was so unmistakable
that Margaret, blushing crimson, grasped the unlucky bag and fairly fled
out of the waiting-room, without, as she contritely remarked afterwards,
a word of thanks or apology.

Having safely deposited the bag in the cloakroom, she set out for her
walk. As she passed the window of the waiting-room she could see the girl
she had left there sitting at the table turning the leaves of a book with
one hand and scribbling hurriedly with the other.

"She's looking up words in a dictionary," Margaret said to herself, who
knew the signs of the occupation only too well. "And that is what I shall
be doing to-morrow. But I am not going to think of that now."

The walk on the whole was not fraught with much enjoyment. Carden, though
a junction of some importance, was nothing much in the way of a town, the
streets near the station were narrow and crowded, the shops poor, and
Margaret was not sorry when her stroll was cut short by a few heavy drops
of rain. It would be much more interesting, she thought, to go back to
the waiting-room and look at the girl who was doing exercises there.
Perhaps, though on that point Margaret was not very hopeful, she might
even talk to her presently. So she hurried back and reached the shelter
of the station only just in time