“You didn’t think—­”

“No.  I didn’t think you had the pluck.”

“It doesn’t require much of that.”

“Doesn’t it?  There are loads of girls, nice girls too, who’d do as you’ve done to-morrow if they only dared,” declared Miss Toombs.  “And why not?” she added defiantly.

“You take my breath away,” laughed Mavis.

“Don’t laugh, dear.  It’s much too serious to laugh at,” remonstrated Miss Toombs.  “We’re here for such a short time, and so much of that is taken up with youth and age and illness and work that it’s our duty to get as much happiness as we can.  And if two people love each other—­”

“The woman can be brought down to this.”

“And wasn’t it worth it?” cried Miss Toombs hotly.

“Worth it!” echoed Mavis.

“Didn’t you have a lovely time when you were away?”

“Heavenly!”

“Didn’t he kiss your hands and feet and hair and tell you you were the most beautiful woman in the whole world, as they do in books?”

Mavis nodded.

“And didn’t he hold you to his heart all the night through, and didn’t you think you were in heaven?  No—­no, don’t tell me.  It would make me miserable and jealous for weeks.”

“Why should it?”

“Who’s ever wanted to love and kiss my feet and hands?  But there it is—­you’re a pretty girl, and all that, but you can’t have everything in this world.  You’ve had to pay one of the chief penalties for your attractiveness.”

Just then Mavis’s baby began to cry.

“It’s my hard knee,” remarked Miss Toombs ruefully.  “They always cry when I nurse them.”

“I think he’s hungry,” remarked Mavis.

“Then give the boy his supper.  Don’t mind me.”

Mavis busied herself with the preparations for sterilising the milk, but the boy cried so lustily that, to quiet him, Mavis blushingly undid her bodice to put the nipple of her firm, white breast in his mouth.

“It’s the only thing to quiet him,” explained Mavis.

“No wonder.  He’s got taste, has that boy.  Don’t turn away.  It’s all so beautiful, and there’s nothing wrong in nature.”

“What are you thinking of?” asked Miss Toombs presently, after Mavis had been silent for a while.  “Don’t you feel at home with me?”

“Don’t be silly!  You know you profess not to believe in Providence.”

“What of it?”

“I’ve been in a bad way lately and I’ve prayed for help.  Surely meeting with you in a huge place like London is an answer to my prayer.”

“Meeting you, when you were hard up, was like something out of a book, eh?”

“Something out of a very good book,” replied Mavis.

“Well, it wasn’t chance at all.  These sort of things never happen when they’re wanted to.  I’ve been up in town looking for you.”

“What!”

“And thereby hangs a very romantic tale.”

“You’ve been looking for me?”