eyes. She had already pawned most of her trinkets, till now there
alone remained her father's gifts, from which she was exceedingly
loath to part. The three pounds, in relieving her of this necessity,
was in the nature of a godsend.

Now she stood on the platform at Melkbridge. Her luggage had been
put out of the train, which had steamed away. Mavis thought that she
would ask the station-master if he knew of a suitable lodging. The
man whom she judged to be this person was, at present, engaged with
the porters. While she waited till he should be at liberty, her mind
went back to the time when she had last stood on the same platform.
It had been on the day when she had come down to Melkbridge fully
confident of securing work with the Devitt family. This had only
been a few months ago, but to Mavis it seemed long years: she had
experienced so much in the time. Then it occurred to her how often
Archie Windebank had walked on the same platform--Archie Windebank,
who was now on the sea so many hundreds of miles from where she
stood. She wondered if he ever found time to think of her. She
sighed.

Seeing that the station-master was disengaged, she approached the
spectacled, dapper little man and told him of her wants.

"Would it be for long?" he asked.

"Possibly for years. I'm coming to work here."

"Work!"

"In the office of one of Mr Devitt's companies."