e well until night, besides
saving an appreciable sum for the end of the week, when her room must be
paid for.

The summer had been one long nightmare of heat. It had been years
according to all accounts since the unhappy Londoners had so sweltered
beneath the scorching rays of an almost tropic sun. Often, when tossing
on her little bed or when seated by her small window which gave on a
sort of court, with the forlorn hope of finding some air stirring, had
she thought with longing of the pleasant garden at Tunbridge Wells and
is perfumed breezes.

So far her search for any position had been fruitless. She had gone to
other agencies; to some whose greatly reduced fees were a sure
indication that she could hope for nothing so "high class," to use
their hateful phrase, as she had been accustomed to. But one must do
what one could.

At one establishment, she shuddered to remember, she found that she
would be expected to sit in the office, as at the servants' agencies, to
be inspected by prospective employers. This, Nora had flatly refused to
do and had been coolly informed by the manager, an insufferable young
man with a loud voice and a vulgar manner, that in that case he could do
nothing for her.

He had at the same time refused to return her fee, which he had
providently collected before explaining these conditions, on the ground
that they never returned fees. Nora had been glad enough to make her
escape from his hateful presence without arguing the matter with him,
although she considered that, to all intents and purposes, her pocket
had been picked.

Apparently everyone in the world was already supplied with a companion.
She had thought of filing an application for the position of nursery
governess, only to find that, for a really good post, two modern
languages would be required. That, coupled with the fact that she was
obliged to confess to absolutely no previous experience in teaching,
closed the door to even second-class appointments.

And the desolating loneliness of it all! Only once in all this time had
she seen anyone she knew, and that was shortly after her arrival while
still in the first flush of her newly regained freedom. She had gone
with a young woman who was staying at the hotel for a few days to the
gallery of a theater. From her lofty perch she had seen Reggie Hornby
with a gay party of young men in the stalls below. Evidently he was
making the most of his last hours at home before going into