e yourself useful."

"I'll try to do my best wherever you put me, Mr. Meggison" said Win,
sounding to herself like a heroine of a Sunday serial, and feeling not
unlike one in a difficult situation at the end of an instalment. At
home, in her father's house, she had occasionally been driven to read
Sunday serials on Sunday. They were the only fiction permitted on that
day.

"That's all right. But now I mean something in particular" explained
Meggison. "I told you what they were saying about you in your
department to see how you'd take it. Well, you didn't seem desperately
shocked at the idea of being engaged by a so-called charitable society
to watch out for any breaks we might make. Not that we do make any, so
your trouble would have been wasted. We give our girls seats and every
living thing the law asks for, and our men make no complaints that we
hear. But, of course, we ain't omnipotent. Things are said, things
happen we don't get onto, little tricks that cost us money. Folks
shirking, and even stealing; we have to keep a sharp lookout. We can't
turn the spotlights on to everybody at once. So when we come across a
pair of lamps that are bright, a long way above the average we
sometimes make it worth their while---"

"Oh, Mr. Meggison, please don't go on!" Win cut the great man short.
"I'd rather you didn't say it, because--I don't wish to hear. I--I
don't want to know what you mean."

It was his turn to flush. But the change of colour was only just
perceptible. He had himself under almost perfect control. His eyes
sent out a flash, then became dull and expressionless as blue-gray
marbles. He was silent and watchful. Win, after her outburst, was
breathlessly speechless.

"Good!" said he at last. "Very good. That's the second test. And it's
all right, like the first. _Now_ do you understand?"

"I--I'm not sure. I---"

"You just said you didn't want to know what I meant. But _I_ want you
to know. I was testing your character again. I'm sure now you're
straight. You're a good girl, as well as a smart one, Miss Child."

Suddenly, just as she had begun to feel so relieved that tears were on
the way to her eyes, Meggison bent forward with an abrupt movement and
laid his hot, plump hand heavily on hers. Up jumped the girl and down
fell the hand. She seemed to hear herself excusing herself and
explaining her rashness to Sadie: "I couldn't stand it. I wouldn't! I
didn't care what happened."

"What's the matter?" he