gressive than most of the females who shopped at "Dawes'." Her
name was Mrs Stanley; she appeared well known to the girls for whom
Bella the servant declared she was in the habit of praying. From the
first, Mrs Stanley was attracted by Mavis, into whose past life she
made sympathetic and tactful inquiries. Directly she learned that Mavis
was an orphan, Mrs Stanley redoubled her efforts to win the girl's
confidence. But it was all of no use; Mavis turned a deaf ear to all
Mrs Stanley's insinuations that a girl of her striking appearance was
thrown away in a shop: it was as much as Mavis could do to be coldly
civil to her. Even when Mrs Stanley gave up the girl as a bad job, the
latter was always possessed by an uneasy sensation whenever she was
near, although Mavis might not have set eyes on her.

Another customer who attracted much attention was the Marquis de
Raffini; he was old, distinguished-looking, and the last survivor of an
illustrious French family.

Mavis saw him come into "Dawes'" soon after she had commenced work,
when he was accompanied by a showy, over-dressed girl, whom he referred
to as Madame the Marquise, and for whom he ordered a costly and
elaborate trousseau. He seemed well known to the girls, who told Mavis
that he appeared every few months with a different young woman; also,
that when, in the ordinary course of nature, the condition of the
temporary Madame the Marquise could no longer be concealed, the Marquis
was in the habit of providing a lump sum of some hundreds of pounds as
dowry in order to induce someone (usually a working man) to marry his
mistress. Mavis was shocked at what she heard; it seemed strange to her
that such things should exist and be discussed as if they were the most
everyday occurrences.

Often, while busily engaged in serving customers or in hearing and
seeing things which, before she came to "Dawes'," she would never have
believed to be possible, she had a strong suspicion that old Orgles was
watching her from the top of a flight of stairs or the tiny window in
his room; it seemed that he was a wary old spider, she a fly, and that
he was biding his time. This impression saddened her; it also made her
attend carefully to her duties, it being his place to deal with those
of the staff who were remiss in their work. It was only of an evening,
when she was free of the shop, that she could be said to be anything
like her old, light-hearted self. She would wash, change her clot