How long they would have staid is uncertain if there had not come a second knock at the kitchen door.  This time it was really Mr. Bills, and Mrs. Biggs went out to meet him, while Eloise felt every nerve quiver with dread.  She must see him and tell him how impossible it would be for her to commence her duties on Monday.  Perhaps he would dismiss her altogether, and take another in her place, and then—­“What shall I do?” she thought, and, scarcely knowing what she said, she cried, “Oh, I can’t bear it!” while the tears rolled down her cheeks, and Howard and Jack gathered close to her,—­the laugh all gone from Howard’s eyes, and a great pity shining in Jack’s.

“Excuse me,” she continued, “I don’t mean to be childish, but everything is so dreadful!  I don’t mind the pain so much; but to be here away from home, and to lose the school, as I may, and—­and,—­I want a handkerchief to wipe my face,—­and this is ruined.”

She said this last as she took from her satchel the handkerchief which had been so white and clean when she left home, and which now was wet and stained from a bottle of shoe blacking which had come uncorked and saturated everything.  She had borne a great deal, and, as is often the case, a small matter upset her entirely.  The spoiled handkerchief was the straw too many, and her tears came faster as she held it in one hand, and with the other tried to wipe them away.

“Take mine, please; I’ve not used it,” Jack said, offering her one of fine linen, and as daintily perfumed as a woman’s.

She took it unhesitatingly.  She was in a frame of mind to take anything, and smiled her thanks through her tears.

“I know I must seem very weak to you to be crying like a baby; but you don’t know how I dread meeting Mr. Bills, or how much is depending upon my having this school, or what it would be to me to lose it, if he can’t wait.  Do you think he will?”

She looked at Jack, who knew nothing whatever of the matter, or of Mr. Bills, but who answered promptly, “Of course he will wait; he must wait.  We shall see to that.  Don’t cry.  I’m awfully sorry for you; we both are.”

He was standing close to her, and involuntarily laid his hand on her hair, smoothing it a little as he would have smoothed his sister’s.  She seemed so young and looked so small, wrapped up in Mrs. Biggs’s gown, that he thought of her for a moment as a child to be soothed and comforted.  She did not repel the touch of his hand, but cried the harder and wiped her face with his handkerchief until it was wet with her tears.

“Mr. Bills wants to know if he can come in now,” came as an interruption to the scene, which was getting rather affecting.

“In just a minute,” Jack said.  Then to Eloise, “Brace up!  We’ll attend to Mr. Bills if he proves formidable.”

She braced up as he bade her, and gave his handkerchief back to him.

“I shan’t need it again.  I am not going to be foolish any longer, and I thank you so much,” she said, with a look which made Jack’s pulse beat rapidly.