etty as you please, but
very prim and firm--'I haven't really got the money, Mrs. Dove.' Well,
well, I've done a deal for those girls--elbow grease I've given them,
and thought I've given them, and books for the improving of their
intellecs I've lent them, and that's all the return I get, that when I
bring up a letter it isn't even 'Thank you, Mrs. Dove.' What I say is
this, Dove, shall I give the attics notice to quit?"

"By no manner of means," answered Dove--"you mark my words, Mrs. Dove,
my only love, that why they were so flurried over the letter just
received was because there was money in it. Don't you turn away nice,
genteel, quiet-spoken young ladies from this house. There's most
likely a postal order in that letter, and my name ain't Dove if I
don't get my gleanings from it."

"Oh, fie, Dove! you will have your joke," answered his wife; but she
said nothing further about giving the Mainwarings notice to quit.

CHAPTER XXV.

DAISY'S PROMISE.

Mr. Danesfield always forwarded the girls' allowance in such a way
that Primrose could easily obtain it--he did not trouble her with
cheques or bank notes, but sent a money-order, which she could cash at
the nearest post-office.

The three went out gleefully that day, and obtained their much needed
money--then Primrose bought a new pair of boots for Daisy, and allowed
Jasmine to spend sixpence on scribbling paper. Having obtained this
delightful possession, Jasmine determined to begin her great work of
fiction without a moment's delay; she felt that she had listened quite
long enough to Miss Egerton's gentle warnings--that she had been
discouraged sufficiently, and that what she had really to do was to
prove the stuff which was in her, and to take the world by storm. She
hesitated a little as to whether her great work was to appear before
the world in the form of a novel or a poem. She thought that to
produce a second "Evangeline" would be a matter of but slight
difficulty, but on the whole she was inclined to give the world her
experience in the fiery and untrammelled words of prose.

"My theme burns within me," she said to herself. "I won't be kept back
by metres or rhymes, or numbers of feet, or any of those tiresome
rules which Miss Egerton tries to instil into me. Oh, I shall be happy
over my work! I will forget that we are poor, and forget that we live
in attics. I will work with Miss Egerton in the daytime, and I will
help Primrose in her house-keep