did Lavinia wish the compromising affair to be known in the school and
talked about. She felt she had left conventional schooling for ever and
she yearned to go back to life--but not the same life in which her early
years had been passed.

Another worry was her shortness of money. She had but a trifle left out
of the guinea her brooch had fetched. In the old days she could have
soon earned a shilling or two by singing outside and inside taverns. But
what she had done as a beggar maid could not be thought of in her fine
clothes. And during the last six months, with good food, regular hours
and systematic drilling, she had shot up half a head. She was a grown
woman, and she felt instinctively that as such and with the winsome face
Nature had bestowed upon her, singing outside taverns would be
considered by men as a blind for something else. In addition she looked
back upon her former occupation with loathing. It could not be denied
that she was in an awkward plight.

She was so absorbed that she did not hear Vane who finished tieing up
the packet speaking to her. Suddenly she became aware of his voice and
she turned to him in some confusion.

"I beg your pardon. You were saying----"

"Pardon my presumption, I was asking whether I might have the privilege
of knowing your name."

"Oh yes. Lavinia Fenton. But that's all I can tell you. You mustn't ask
where I live."

"I'm not curious. I'm quite contented with what you choose to let me