d made a friend who
would always look after their interests. But this morning she was
blazing.

"Save the pieces, Mary," said Jonah, "wot's the matter?"

"A woman in there's got me beat," replied the girl savagely--"says she
must 'ave Kling & Wessel's, an' we 'aven't got a pair in the place.
Not likely either, when the firm's gone bung; but I wasn't goin' to
tell 'er that. Better come an' try 'er yourself, or she'll get away
with 'er money."

As Jonah entered, the troublesome customer looked up with an air of
great composure. She was a young woman of five-and-twenty, tall, dark,
and slight, with features more uncommon than beautiful. Her face
seemed quite familiar to Jonah.

"Good mornin', Miss. Can I 'elp you in any way?" he said, trying to
remember where he had seen her before.

"So sorry to trouble you, but my feet are rather a nuisance," she said,
in a voice that broke like the sound of harps and flutes on Jonah's ear.

Jonah noted mechanically that her eyes were brown, peculiar, and
luminous as if they glowed from within. They were marked by dark
eyebrows that formed two curves of remarkable beauty. She showed her
teeth in a smile; they were small and white and even, so perfect that
they passed for false with strangers. She explained that she had an
abnormally high instep, and could only be fitted by one brand of shoe.
She showed her foot, cased in a black stocking, and the sight of it
carried Jonah back to Cardigan Street and the push, for the high instep
was a distinguished mark of beauty among the larrikins, adored by them
with a Chinese reverence.

"I can only wear Kling & Wessel's, and your assistant tells me you are
out of them at present," she continued, "so I am afraid I must give it
up as a bad job." She picked up her shoe, and Jonah was seized with an
imperious desire to keep her in the shop at any cost.

"I'm afraid yer've worn yer last pair of that make," said Jonah. "The
Americans 'ave driven them off the market, and the agency's closed."

"How annoying! I must wear shoes. Whatever shall I do?" she replied,
staring at the shelves as if lost in thought.

Jonah marked with an extraordinary pleasure every detail of her face
and dress. The stuff was a cheap material, but it was cut and worn
with a daintiness that marked her off from the shopgirls and others
that Jonah was most familiar with. And as he looked, a soft glow swept
through him like the first stage of intoxication. Some