ensive! Living "at home" meant
an added bill for fire and light to add to the necessary expenses
abroad; that the last items were necessary could hardly be denied, for a
girl who had been shut up in a schoolroom through three months of term,
naturally wished to amuse herself abroad during holiday time, and in
London even the most carefully planned amusement has a habit of costing
money.

Even that mild dissipation of shop-gazing, enjoyed by Sophie Blake, plus
the additional excitement of choosing an imaginary present from every
window, could only be enjoyed at the price of two Tube or omnibus fares.
Boots wore out, too, and gloves grew shabby, and the January sales
furnished a very fire of temptation. Claire had never before seen such
bargains as confronted her down the length of Oxford and Regent Streets,
and, though she might be firm as adamant on Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday
was bound to bring about a weak moment which carried her over the
threshold of a shop, and once inside, with sensational sacrifices
dangling within reach, resistance melted like wax.

"Where do you suppose you are going to wear that concoction?" Mary
Rhodes asked blightingly as Claire opened a cardboard box which had
arrived by the morning delivery, and displayed a blue muslin dress inset
with lace. "Lords, I suppose, or Ascot, or Ranelagh, or Hurlingham, or
Henley... They come on in June and July, just as poor High School-
mistresses are in the thick of cramming for the Matric. But _no_ doubt
you are the exception to the rule! ... You must think you are, at
least, to have bought a frock like that!"

"Cecil, it was wickedly cheap--it was, indeed! It was one of a few
summer dresses which were positively given away, and it's made in the
simple, picturesque style which I love, and which does not go out of
date. I hadn't the least intention of buying anything, until I saw it
hanging there, at that price, and it looked at me so longingly, as if it
_wanted_ to come!"

"It's well to be rich! It might have longed at me as much as it liked,
I couldn't have bought it, if it had been two-and-six! I need all my
money for necessities," Mary Rhodes said, sighing; and Claire felt a
pang of reproach, for, since her return, Cecil had indeed seemed
painfully short of loose cash. The debt still outstanding had been
increased by various small borrowings, insignificant in themselves, yet
important as showing how the wind blew. Claire wondered if perc