speaking in hot, excited
tones: "I wish I had never taken your advice. It's been a bad business
for me. I've lost five pounds this last fortnight."

"I wish _I_ had got off with five pounds, sir," sighed the tobacconist;
and his wife echoed the sigh with hopeless resignation. Then the bell
jingled once more, the customers left the shop, and five minutes later
Madge pushed back her chair and prepared to follow their example.

"Bless me, miss, you _are_ white!" cried the woman anxiously. "Have you
turned faint? Sit down, my dear, and I'll make you a cup of tea."

"Thank you, you are very kind, but I shall be all right when I get into
the air. The room--the room is rather warm."

Madge gave a nickering smile, pulled herself together, and went through
the concluding interview with the shopman with creditable composure; but
once outside in the street, and lost in the deadliest of all solitudes--
a London crowd--her agitation could no longer be restrained.

Oh Barney! beloved Benjamin of the family--radiant, clear-eyed child--
honest, fearless boy--have you come to this? Betting, Barney! Losing
five pounds in a fortnight--throwing it away with both hands--while at
home Philippa sat sewing--sewing from morning to night--mending,
turning, contriving, to save a penny--while Steve became old before his
time, and Hope grew pale and thin with anxiety. A rush of colour
flooded Madge's cheeks, and the indignant blood tingled in her veins.
Then came a sudden terrifying thought before which she paled again.
_Where had Barney got this money_? It was impossible that he could have
saved it out of his pittance of a salary; the home exchequer could not
furnish it; then how had he come by it? Madge walked along the busy
streets pondering on this question, and on another equally important--
her own course of action. If she could save her sisters from this
painful discovery, if she could bring Barney to a sense of his
wrong-doing, and pay off his debts by her own work, Madge felt that she
would not have lived in vain. It did not matter how hard she had to
work; she would sit up half the night gladly--gladly; and her experience
had been so encouraging as to justify her in more ambitious flights.
She would set to work at once on a design for a nursery frieze which had
been in contemplation for some time past, offer it to a West End firm,
and boldly ask a good price. If only Barney would be frank, and confess
the whole truth!