d sort of manner, and once she had asked,
hesitatingly:

"Is anything the matter, Faith, dear?"

Faith had laughed.

"No; what could be the matter?" and Mrs. Ledley said, slowly: "I only
wondered----"

This day seemed interminable. Faith did her work slowly and badly. She
knew that Miss Dell had real cause for her frequent complaints. She was
thankful when at last it was time to go.

She snatched up her hat and was first out of the factory; she reached
the end of the road hot and breathless with her haste.

The Beggar Man was not there.

Faith looked eagerly up and down the road, but there was no sign of him,
and a thrill of apprehension touched her heart.

Had it after all been a dream, and was she never to see him again? She
walked on slowly.

Perhaps she was too soon--perhaps something had happened to detain him.
She looked up and down the street for a clock, but there was not one to
be seen. She retraced her steps slowly; he would come! Of course he
would come! In a moment she would see him turn the corner--in a moment
she would hear his voice....

She tried to think of something else, so that the time would pass more
quickly, but she could not concentrate her thoughts.

Supposing he had not been serious! Supposing all her wonderful dreams
were never to come to anything after all! Supposing she had still to go
on, week in and week out, in Heeler's noisy, stifling factory. A feeling
of desperation seized her--she could not bear it--she would die if she
never saw him again. She remembered in a panic that she did not know
where to find him, that he had never told her where he lived, or given
her any address.

She lifted a trembling hand to the notes hidden beneath her frock; they
were real enough--and then came another and more cruel thought.
Supposing he had given them to her by way of farewell--her heart almost
stopped beating.

Such things did happen she knew in novelettes, if not out of them! Peg
had told her one lurid story, in which....

"Good afternoon," said the Beggar Man beside her.

Tears of relief started to her eyes. She was so glad to see him she
could hardly speak; she stammered out:

"I thought you were not coming any more--I thought you had gone away."

He looked faintly surprised.

"Am I late? I'm sorry. I would have been earlier if I had known you
would be here."

Faith smiled, and brushed the tears from her eyes.

"It doesn't matter a bit now you've come," she said. She wa