“Yes, I was there for two years. I rather liked it! I love pretty things, and I was in the workroom. They paid me quite well, too, though it was hard work, and then––well, then I left–––” her voice changed subtly.

“Why?”

The query was only interested, and not at all impertinent.

Esther flushed.

“Well––well––I thought I was going to be married. He––well, he asked me to leave to marry him, and so I did....”

“But you’re not married?”

“No–––” Esther was looking away into the fire. “No, I’m not married,” she said in a stifled voice. “He––my fiancé––has had to go away on business––abroad, and I don’t know when I shall see him again.”

Her voice sounded sad and dispirited.

“You poor little thing!” said June Mason. She leaned over and laid her hand on Esther’s. “Never mind! The time will soon pass, and then he’ll come back and you’ll live happily ever after–––”

Esther smiled.

“I know. I keep on telling myself it’s foolish to worry. I felt quite happy this morning. I had a letter from him, and somehow when I read it things didn’t seem half so bad; but–––”

“And you’ll have another to-morrow, I expect.” Miss Mason insisted. “And another the next day, and one every day while he’s away. There! That’s better,” she added cheerily as Esther laughed.

“I don’t like to see you look so sad. I’m going to cheer you up. I shan’t allow you to be miserable. And anyway,” she added, with a sudden softening, “you’ve got some one who loves you, and that’s worth everything else in the world.”

“Yes,” said Esther. Her eyes shone and she thought 52 of the letter which was even then lying against her heart. Somehow she had never realised how much he really cared for her till to-day.

52

“And what are you going to do till he comes home?” Miss Mason asked interestedly. “If you had something to do you’d find the time pass ever so much more quickly.”

“It’s a question of having to do something rather than how to pass the time,” Esther said. “I haven’t any money except what I can make. My aunt 

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