d all day!" sighed Clo.

"Well, sleep as much as you like. But don't be scared if ye hear folks
movin' later on to-night. The friend of this couple is out, but he may
come home and want to see 'em."

Clo paid seven dollars in advance for the room, and took pains to show
that she had plenty of money. She begged also to buy or borrow a clean
nightgown, and suggested that, if there were a new toothbrush in the
house, she would be glad to have it. Mrs. MacMahon laughed. A nightgown
she could lend, but as for a toothbrush, there wouldn't be one this side
of the nearest drugstore. Miss Ryan (the name Clo gave) must wait till
next day.

"Well, anyhow, maybe you've a bit you'll give me to eat!" the new
boarder pleaded. "I'm that hungry I could bite off the door-knob! I'll
pay extra, of course--this time of night. And your coloured
woman--Violet, isn't she?--shall have a couple of dimes for bringing up
the food."

Mrs. MacMahon softened and asked what food her guest desired. Clo
desired nothing so much as a knife, and made a bid to secure one by
asking for meat. "Any old kind!--and some bread and milk. I'll give
fifty cents--" (she watched the woman's eye)--"I mean, a dollar for my
supper."

When Mrs. MacMahon had gone the girl held her breath to listen. Yes, the
wall was thin! She could hear Kit and Churn talking in an ordinary tone,
but she could catch few words, even when she laid her ear against the
dusty paper. When the voices sank low, they reached her only in an
indistinct rumble.

She guessed that the tiny room was separated from the larger one by a
partition of laths and plaster, covered on each side with flimsy wall
paper. She could feel as well as hear someone walking up and down, up
and down, in the next room! No doubt it was Churn. Now and then he would
pause. A piece of furniture would creak; then he would jump up, to begin
walking again.

Presently Violet appeared, a coarse nightgown hanging over her arm, a
plate of bread and ham on a napkinless tray, and glass of bluish milk.
Clo gave the woman twenty cents, and promised the same sum if her
breakfast were brought upstairs. Violet agreed to this bargain, which
was well for the girl. She would have starved rather than desert her
room long enough to eat while Churn and Kit remained in their quarters.
She surmised that they would not often go out.

Clo had told the truth in pleading hunger, but when she was alone and
had locked her door, she took from the