.. I just applied, and the
manager said he'd give me a trial."

She could feel the something hostile in the air, and her brown eyes
darkened with anxiety. She felt herself so small and alone in this crowd
of muscular, cheery young women.

One of them, who seemed a sort of leader amongst the others, took a
little step towards her.

"What are you--a machinist?"

"Yes----"

"Oh!" The elder girl's rather bold blue eyes seemed to take stock of the
younger one; then she said, with a note of greater friendliness:

"Oh, well, come on. You can sit next to me if you like."

Faith took courage.

"What is your name?" she asked diffidently.

The elder girl laughed. "They call me Peg," she said, and with sudden
impulse she held out her work-roughened hand. "Come on," she said again,
with an unconscious note of imperiousness in her voice, and Faith
obeyed.

That was Faith's initiation into the workings of Heeler's blouse
factory. It was the beginning, also, of a lifelong friendship between
herself and Peg Fraser.

During the day Peg asked many questions.

"Have you got a father and mother?"

"A mother--she's delicate."

"Oh! Any brothers and sisters?"

"Two little sisters."

"Do you keep them?"

Faith smiled. "Oh, no! I help--we take lodgers."

"Oh." For a moment Peg was silent, treadling away busily at her machine,
and Faith stole a timid glance at her.

Peg was handsome in a bold sort of way. She had jet black hair and a
high colour, blue eyes, a little hard in expression, and a fine figure.

She was a power to reckon with in the room in which she worked, as Faith
was quick to discover. Even the forewoman, who was thin-lipped and
shrewish, seemed a little afraid of her. Presently she asked another
question:

"What was your father?"

Faith flushed sensitively. "He was a gentleman," she said proudly.

Peg's blue eyes opened wide and for a moment she stopped work. Then:

"My father was a night-watchman," she said dryly. She snapped off a
thread with a vicious little gesture. "He was a drunken brute," she
added vehemently. "We were all glad when he died. Were you glad when
yours died?"

Faith's eyes clouded with tears. "No," she said; "it was like the end of
everything."

Peg paused again to regard her with curiosity. She had never met a girl
quite like this one before. "What did he die of?" she asked blankly
after a moment.

It was Faith's turn now to stop work; she looked up with a sudden flush
i