well removed from likelihood of want. She was obliged to be careful
with the few pounds that she earned at Brandenburg College: being of
an open-handed disposition, this necessity for economy irked her;
but however much she stinted her inclinations in other directions,
she was determined, as are so many other young women who are thrown
on their own resources, to have one good turn-out in which to make a
brave show to the world. Not that Mavis spent her money, shop-girl
fashion, in buying cheap flummery which was, at best, a poor and
easily recognisable imitation of the real thing; her purchases were
of the kind that any young gentlewoman, who was not compelled to
take thought for the morrow, might becomingly wear. As she walked,
most of the men she met looked at her admiringly; some turned to
glance at her figure; one or two retraced their steps and would have
overtaken her, had she not walked purposefully forward. She was so
used to these tributes to her attractiveness, that she did not give
them heed. She could not help noticing one man; he glanced at her
and seemed as if he were about to raise his hat; when she looked at
him to see if she knew him, she saw that he was distinguished
looking, but a stranger. She hurried on; presently, she went into a
draper's shop, where she bought a pair of gloves, but, when she came
out, the good-looking stranger was staring woodenly at the window.
She hastened forward; turning a corner, she slipped into a
tobacconist's and newsagent's, where she bought a packet of her
favourite cigarettes, together with a box of matches. When she got
to the door, her good-looking admirer was entering the shop. He made
way for her, and, raising his hat, was about to speak: she walked
quickly away and was not troubled with him any more. When she got to
Paddington, she disobeyed Miss Helen's injunctions to travel in a
compartment reserved for ladies, but went into an ordinary carriage,
which, by the connivance of the guard, she had to herself. When the