little--scarcely enough, I suppose, to carry you on from one engagement
to another. After all, weren't you as well off at the restaurant? Didn't
they treat you properly?"

She colored a little at the question.

"Oh, yes. At least, I had no fault to find with the man who kept it or
with his wife."

Vane made a hasty sign of comprehension. He supposed that the difficulty
had arisen from the conduct of one or more of the regular customers. He
felt that he would very much like to meet the man whose undesired
attentions had driven his companion from her occupation.

"Did you never try to learn keeping accounts or typewriting?" he asked.

"I tried it once. I could manage the figures, but the mill shut down."

Vane made his next suggestion casually, though he was troubled by an
inward diffidence.

"I've an idea that I could find you a post. It looks as if I'm going to
be a person of some little influence in the future, which"--he
laughed--"is a very new thing to me."

He saw a tinge of warmer color creep into the girl's cheeks. She had, as
he had already noticed a beautifully clear skin.

"No," she said decidedly; "it wouldn't do."