ation in her heart.

"No," said Ray carelessly; "the man wouldn't give me the medicine. He
told me to go home and fetch the rest of the money."

"How much more do you want?" asked Clara, in a curious tone.

"Eighteen pence," said Ray, showing two half-crowns in his hand.

Clara hesitated, with parched lips. She remembered Ada's face, ravaged
by brandy. She was a physical wreck, and six months ago...perhaps
another bottle...

The thought grazed her mind with a stealthy, horrible suggestion. She
felt in her purse with trembling fingers, and found a shilling and a
sixpence.

"Go and get your mother's medicine," she whispered, putting the money
into Ray's hand; "but don't tell her that you met me, or she may scold
you."

Ray turned in at the side door, and Clara, white to the lips, hurried
round the corner.

It took Ray half an hour to cover the short distance between the Angel
and the Silver Shoe, with a bottle of brandy swinging carelessly in the
millet-bag. Cassidy himself, all smiles, had carefully wrapped it in
paper. Ray had promised to hurry home with the medicine for his
mother, but, as usual, the shop windows were irresistible. Some of his
early trips to the "Angel" had taken half a day.

Meanwhile Ada lay on the bed in an agony of attention, atrociously
alert to every sound, hearing with every nerve in her body. Her nerves
had collapsed under the repeated debauches, and the scream of an engine
shunting in the railway yards went through her like a knife. The
confused rumble of carts in Regent Street, the familiar sounds from the
shop below, the slamming of a door, a voice raised in inquiry, the
monotonous, kindly echoes of life, struck on the raw edges of her
nerves, exasperating her to madness.

And through it all her ears sought for two sounds with agonizing
acuteness--the firm, rapid step of Jonah mounting the stairs winding
from the shop, or the nonchalant, laggard footfall of Ray ascending
from the stairs at the rear. Would Cassidy send the bottle and trust
her for the other eighteen pence? Would Jonah hurry back to meet Miss
Grimes? Presently her ear distinguished the light, uncertain step of
Ray. Every nerve in her body leapt for joy when she saw the bottle.
She looked at the clock, it was nearly four. She had at least an hour
clear, for Jonah would be in no hurry now that he had missed the
music-lesson. She snatched the bag from the astonished child.

"Go an' see if yer father's