over him,
right through the heart. That's all."

"_All!_" Joyce breathed the word with a meaning, practical George Dalton
scarcely understood, and they proceeded in silence.

One other of the workers attracted the girl, as instantly, and partially
distracted her thoughts from Dan. This was a girl with a peculiar face;
not handsome. Joyce could only think of one descriptive word--high.
Pale, with dark coloring in hair and eyes, she seemed somehow remote,
lifted above the common life about her, like one living in a world of
her own. She, too, seemed absorbed in her work of engraving, and did not
for an instant remove her eyes from her delicate task, as she slowly
turned and pressed the globe against the spindle, working out the
pattern etched in the film covering its surface. But Joyce asked no
questions about her as they passed on.

"Now for the homes," she said, after the long tour of the buildings was
completed. "How can we gain entrance without seeming to intrude? Had we
better all try to go? It will seem like a regular incursion, won't it?"

Mr. Dalton smiled.

"If you could let me out, I'd be grateful. I've a big day's work laid
out on the time-books and accounts, for to-morrow's pay-day. But of
course, if you need me----"

"No, no. It has been very good of you to give us so much time. If I were
only an agent, now, and had something to sell----"

"'Twouldn't be a bad scheme, Miss Lavillotte, in case you really want to
see them as they are. If you had some new-fangled baking dish, or a
story paper, or----"

Joyce looked up with a flashing glance, and turned to Ellen, who
received the notice with a sniff and a restrained smile.

"You have one, Ellen. We bought it on the train, It's full of pictures
and short stories."

"Yes 'm, I've got it. You left it on the seat and I picked it up."

"And now your frugality is to be rewarded. But wouldn't it be prying,
Mr. Dalton?"

"Possibly. But wouldn't it be, anyway? I gather you have some good
reason for wishing to see these people at home."

"I have. I want to know just how and where to help them best, but I hate
to act in an underhanded way. And yet, if the paper would serve to give
me entrance I'd try not to prevaricate in the least."

"I think you may be trusted, Miss Lavillotte."

"Ellen, will you stay here in the office while I try it alone?"

"If you tell me to I s'pose I must, but I think it's a wild-goose chase
anyhow," was the disapproving answer.