sight, owing to their repeated visits. One of these she disliked
from the first; later experience of her only intensified this
impression. She was a tall, fine woman, well, if a trifle over-
dressed; her complexion was a little more aggressive than most of
the females who shopped at "Dawes'." Her name was Mrs Stanley; she
appeared well known to the girls for whom Bella the servant declared
she was in the habit of praying. From the first, Mrs Stanley was
attracted by Mavis, into whose past life she made sympathetic and
tactful inquiries. Directly she learned that Mavis was an orphan,
Mrs Stanley redoubled her efforts to win the girl's confidence. But
it was all of no use; Mavis turned a deaf ear to all Mrs Stanley's
insinuations that a girl of her striking appearance was thrown away
in a shop: it was as much as Mavis could do to be coldly civil to
her. Even when Mrs Stanley gave up the girl as a bad job, the latter
was always possessed by an uneasy sensation whenever she was near,
although Mavis might not have set eyes on her.

Another customer who attracted much attention was the Marquis de
Raffini; he was old, distinguished-looking, and the last survivor of
an illustrious French family.

Mavis saw him come into "Dawes'" soon after she had commenced work,
when he was accompanied by a showy, over-dressed girl, whom he
referred to as Madame the Marquise, and for whom he ordered a costly
and elaborate trousseau. He seemed well known to the girls, who told
Mavis that he appeared every few months with a different young
woman; also, that when, in the ordinary course of nature, the
condition of the temporary Madame the Marquise could no longer be
concealed, the Marquis was in the habit of providing a lump sum of
some hundreds of pounds as dowry in order to induce someone (usually