Paul seemed accustomed to this order now. He smiled and vanished. None of our servants knew that their tenure with us was ended, that within a very short time mother and I would know the soft things of life no more. We were dragging out our last delicious days in the Land of Luxury; we were soon to enter the Land of Hard Living, the Land of Endeavour, the Land of Struggle. Might it not be a better, a more bracing life than our present one? At least it would be a more interesting life, of that I made sure, even before I plunged into its depths. Mother ate her breakfast quite with appetite, and 30 soon afterwards we were driving in the direction of Bloomsbury. 30 Jenkins, who had lived with us for years, and who had as a matter of course imbibed some of the aristocratic notions of our neighbourhood, almost turned up his nose when we told him to stop at the house of a well-known agent in Bloomsbury. He could not, like the Duchess of Wilmot, confess that he did not know where Bloomsbury was, but he evidently considered that something strange and by no means comme il faut had occurred. Presently we reached our destination, it was only half-past ten. "Won't you get out, mother?" I asked as I sprang to the pavement. "Is it necessary, dear child?" replied mother. "I think it is," I answered; "you ought to appear in this matter, I am too young to receive the respect which I really merit, but with you to help me—oh, you will do exactly what I tell you, won't you?" "My dear girl!" "Yes, Mummy, you will, you will." I took her hand, and gave it a firm grip, and we went into the house-agent's together. 31 31 CHAPTER IV THE VERDICT THE VERDICT The first thing I noticed when I entered the large room where Messrs Macalister & Co. carried on their business, was a young man, tall and very well set up, who stood with his back to us. He was talking earnestly to one of Macalister's clerks, and there was something about his figure which caused me to look at him attentively. His hair was of a light shade of brown, and was
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