s under such circumstances: if it was done with tact, and with a
certain assumed warmth of manner, anyone could make a cat's-paw of her.

That Lilith and she undressed for bed together had also something to do
with their intimacy: this half-hour when one's hair was unbound and
replaited, and fat and thin arms wielded the brush, was the time of all
others for confidences. The governess who occupied the fourth bed did
not come upstairs till ten o'clock; the publican's daughter, a lazy
girl, was usually half asleep before the other two had their clothes
off.

It was in the course of one of these confidential chats that Laura did
a very foolish thing. In a moment of weakness, she gratuitously gave
away the secret that Mother supported her family by the work of her
hands.

The two girls were sitting on the side of Lilith's bed. Laura had a day
of mishaps behind her--that partly, no doubt, accounted for her
self-indulgence. But, in addition, her companion had just told her,
unasked, that she thought her "very pretty". It was not in Laura's
nature to let this pass: she was never at ease under an obligation; she
had to pay the coin back in kind.

"Embroidery? What sort? However does she do it?"--Lilith's interest was
on tiptoe at once--a false and slimy interest, the victim afterwards
told herself.

"Oh, my mother's awfully clever. It's just lovely, too, what she
does--all in silk--and ever so many different colours. She made a
piano-cover once, and got fifty pounds for it."

"How perfectly splendid!"

"But that was only a lucky chance ... that she got that to do. She
mostly does children's dresses and cloaks and things like that."

"But she's not a dressmaker, is she?"

"A dressmaker? I should think not indeed! They're sent up, all ready to
work, from the biggest shops in town."

"I say!--she must be clever."

"She is; she can do anything. She makes the patterns up all out of her
own head. "--And filled with pride in Mother's accomplishments and
Lilith's appreciation of them, Laura fell asleep that night without a
qualm.

It was the next evening. Several of the boarders who had finished
preparing their lessons were loitering in the dining-hall, Laura and
Lilith among them. In the group was a girl called Lucy, young but very
saucy; for she lived at Toorak, and came of one of the best families in
Melbourne. She was not as old as Laura by two years, but was already
feared and respected for the fine scorn of her op