s
the days passed, with all the indignities and anxieties attending the
quest for employment, the girl's thoughts more and more inclined to
Melkbridge. She longed to breathe its air, tread its familiar ways,
steep herself in the scarcely awakened spirit of the place. She
constantly debated in her mind whether or not she should write to Mr.
Devitt to ask for employment. She told herself how, in doing what she
had resolved upon doing only in the last extremity, she was giving no
more hurt to her pride than it received, several times daily, in her
hopeless search for work. A startling occurrence had put the fear of
London into her heart and decided her to write to Melkbridge. She had
been walking down Victoria Street, raging with anger at the insult that
a rich photographer had offered her, to whom, in reply to an
advertisement, she had applied for work, when her attention was
attracted by a knot of people gathered about a hospital nurse, a girl,
and a policeman.

The nurse, a harsh, forbidding-looking woman, was endeavouring to coax
the girl into a waiting cab. The girl was excitedly appealing for
release to the policeman, to the knot of spectators, to passers-by.
When anyone displayed a sign of active interest in the matter, the
nurse had put her finger to her forehead to signify that her charge was
insane.

Mavis was about to avoid the gathering by crossing the road, when she
caught a glimpse of the girl's face, to recognise it as belonging to
Miss Meakin. Wondering what it could mean, she hastened to her old
acquaintance, who, despite her protests, was being urged towards the
cab.

"It's all a mistake. Let me go! Oh! won't anyone help?" Miss Meakin had
cried as Mavis reached her side.

"What is it? What has happened?" asked Mavis.

"It's you: it's you! Thank Heaven!" cried Miss Meakin.

"What has happened? I insist on knowing," Mavis had asked, as she
glanced defiantly at the forbidding-looking nurse.

"It's not a nurse. It's a man. I know he is. He's followed me, and now
he's trying to get me away," sobbed the girl.

Mavis turned to the nurse, who put her finger to her forehead, as if to
insist that Miss Meakin's mind was unhinged.

Mavis had appealed to the policeman, to declare there must be some
mistake, as she knew Miss Meakin to be of sound mind; but this man had
replied that it was not his place to interfere. Mavis, feeling anxious
for her friend, was debating in her mind whether she should get into