. Besides, she never went out.

"Your poor mother was just as handy with her needle as what you are.
We'd go along together to have a look at the shops in Oxford Street,
and the moment she returned home, she'd set to work, and alter
something to make it look fashionable." Mrs. Mills sighed. "Little
good it brought her, though, in the long run."

"I am sure," remarked the girl quickly, "it never brought her any harm."

"Didn't help to get hold of anybody better than your father, at any
rate. But they're both gone, and it's no use talking."

Some one entered the shop.

"Your friend Miss Radford," she announced. "Now there won't be a
chance for any one else to speak."

The visitor justified the prophecy, by entering the parlour with a
breathless "Oh, I've got such news!" checking herself on encountering
Mrs. Mills. Mrs. Mills asked, with reserve, concerning the health of
Miss Radford's mother, and mentioned (not apparently for the first
time) that the lady, in her opinion, ought to be living on a gravel
soil. Miss Radford, obviously suffering from repressed information,
promised to deliver the advice, word for word, and in the meantime gave
her own warm thanks.

"Old nuisance!" she remarked, as the half-curtained door closed. "I
wonder how you can put up with her."

"My aunt is very good to me."

"Isn't it a pity," said the visitor inconsequently, "that you're so
short? Well, not exactly short, but certainly only about middle
height. I think"--she glanced at the mirror complacently--"my idea is
it's partly because I'm tall that I attract so much notice. I'm sure
the way they gaze round after I'm gone by--Well, it used to make me
feel quite confused, but I've got over that. You don't have to put up
with such experiences, Gertie."

"Afraid I forget to turn to see if they're looking."

"You've got rather a thoughtless disposition," agreed the other. "Once
or twice lately, when I've been telling you things that I don't tell to
everybody, it's struck me that you've been scarcely listening." The
door was closed, but Miss Radford verified this before proceeding.
"What do you think?" she asked in an awed voice. "Whatever do you
think? Two of my old ones have met. Met at a smoking concert
apparently. And they somehow started talking, and my name cropped up,
and," tearfully, "they've written me such a unkind letter, with both
their names to it. On the top of it all, the latest one caught sight
of me y