looking man, who had listened to all that had been said, came
forward to tell the policeman that if he did not interfere, his
remissness, together with his number, would be reported to Scotland
Yard.

The policeman, stirred to action, stepped forward, at which the
nurse had sprung into the cab, to be driven away, when Miss Meakin
had gone into hysterics upon Mavis' shoulder.

Later, after she had come to herself in a chemist's shop, she had
told Mavis that she had left "Dawes'," and was now keeping house for
an aunt who was reduced to taking in paying guests somewhere in
North Kensington. She had been to Vincent Square to look up a late
paying guest of her aunt's, who had taken with her some of the
household linen by mistake. Upon her setting out for home, she had
met with the uncanny adventure from which Mavis' timely arrival had
released her.

Directly Mavis reached home, she had written to Mr Devitt. Four days
passed, during which she heard nothing in reply. The suspense filled
her soul with a sickening dread. Work at Melkbridge now promised
alluring possibilities, qualities that had never presented
themselves to her mind in the days when she believed that a letter
from her would secure from Mr Devitt what she desired. To her
surprised delight, the fifth morning's post had brought her a letter
from Mr Devitt, which told her that, if she would start at once for
Melkbridge, she could earn a pound a week in the office of a boot
manufactory, of which he was managing director; the letter had also
contained postal orders for three pounds to pay the expenses of her
moving from London to Wiltshire. Mavis could hardly believe her