The parties to this dialogue were a girl and a woman, the latter middle-aged, not to say elderly. She had a hooked, commandeering nose and a hard mouth turning down at the corners. Now they were turning down very much indeed. It may be hardly necessary to explain that these two occupied the position of employer and employed.

"Now mark my words, Miss Seward," went on the first speaker, fast getting into the tremulous stage of white anger. "I'll give you just one more chance, and only one. Hand me over that letter, or--out of my house you go. Without references mind--and this very day at that.

Now--take your choice."

There was some excuse for the irritation displayed by the older woman, in that she had surprised the other in the act of reading a letter--a fairly closely written one too, and that in the handwriting of her only son, a young subaltern not long gazetted, and only recently gone out to India. She had suspected something between them prior to his departure; and this girl was a mere paid teacher of French and music to her own two--then in the "flapper" stage. As a matter of fact there had been, but it was all on one side--on that of the boy.

"There's really nothing in it," was the answer, "I didn't want him to write to me, and told him so more than once. But as he has, well I can't show private correspondence to a third person, even though it be the correspondent's mother."

In hard reality the speaker was more than half inclined to comply--more to put an end to the whole bother than anything. But there were two obstacles in the way of such a safe and easy course; first her own pride, of which she had all her share--in spite of her dependent position--not that she considered it a dependent one as long as she gave _quid pro quo_, and who shall say that she was altogether wrong? And Mrs Carstairs had put on a tone that was raspingly dictatorial and commandeering. The second lay in the fact that the writer had particularly requested that all knowledge of her having received the letter should be withheld from his mother. Equally, as a matter of fact, even as she had said--there was nothing in it. It was a very harmless effusion. It contained vehement declarations of devotion, but such were merely unsophisticated and doglike. When at home the boy had fallen violently in love with her, but though kind to him in a sisterly way, she had not reciprocated, and while sorry for him had pointed out plainly to him more than once that this was so. She was older than him too, and could not look upon him from the point of view he wanted--and this she also pointed out to him plainly.

In view of all this it seemed rather hard lines now that his mother should swoop down upon her in this fashion as though she were a mere designing intriguing adventuress, instead of being, as it happened, of considerably older descent than this family of two generations of worthy and successful manufacturers, among whom perforce for the time being, she was earning her daily bread, and perhaps it was a little of this sense of contrast that raised that gold-crowned, well-poised, thoroughbred head somewhat higher in the air during the gathering storm of the interview. But here were two angry women, rapidly becoming more angry still--the one steadfastly refusing what the other as equally steadfastly imagined she had every right in the world to demand. What sort of outcome was this likely to yield?

The elder woman's normally rubicund cheeks had now gone nearly white.

"So that's your last word?" she panted.

"I'm afraid so."

"Then go. D'you hear. Go upstairs and pack, and leave this house at once. That is the return I get for my kindness--my charity--in ever taking you into it at all."

Melian Mervyn Seward threw back her head, and straightened herself still more at the ugly word.

"Excuse me, Mrs Carstairs," she said, a small red circle coming into each of her likewise paled cheeks, "but I think you used the wrong word.

You have had your full money value from me, fair work for fair wage.

So I don't see where the word 'charity' comes in at all."

The other could only sputter, she was simply speechless with wrath. The girl went on:

"Not only that, but I am ent.i.tled to some notice. I refuse to be thrown out in the street without any at all. Remember, I have to make my own arrangements as to my next plans. So I will take your notice now if you like."

You see there was the element of a capable business woman about this thoroughbred, self possessed orphan girl, who had hardly a friend in the world and that not capable of being of any use to her in a stress like the present. She, calm, because with the power to control her white anger, held the other at a disadvantage, who had not.

"Oh, well," the latter managed to stutter. "I will pay you your month's wages, and--"

"Quarter's," corrected the girl quietly. "I am not a servant, let me remind you, but teacher of French and music to your children. Therefore I am ent.i.tled to a quarter's notice."

"Why, this is blackmailing," blared the woman furiously. "Sheer blackmailing."

"Don't keep on using ugly words. You know it's nothing of the kind-- only a sheer matter of business." And then somehow the mere mention of the word seemed to be effectual in calming the speaker's restrained math. "I have got to take care of myself, you know. There's no one else in this wide world to do it for me. So I must have my contract carried out, or take steps to enforce it if necessary. There is no blackmailing in that."

"Oh, that's a threat, is it?"

"Not a bit. I am merely putting the situation before you from both sides."

"You shall have your quarter, then," said the other, after a moment of silence. "But--leave this house by to-night."

"If I can, I will," answered the girl. "But I must first make sure that I have somewhere to go to. So if you will kindly have a telegram dispatched for me, and the reply is satisfactory, I shall be prepared to do as you wish. _If_ it is not, I fear I shall have to burden you until to-morrow morning."

The other gasped in speechless amazement. But she knew what was in the speaker's mind. If the latter were to go out herself with the object of sending the telegram, who knew but that she might not find herself refused re-admission? In justice it is only fair to say that such an extreme measure would not have been adopted. Still, as the girl had said, she had got to take care of herself.

"Very well, write your telegram then," she snapped, and rustled out.

Melian went over to a writing table, found a telegraph form, and having filled it in, rang the bell and dispatched it. Then she went up to her room.

So she had lost her means of livelihood. It was not a very congenial means of livelihood, still it might have been worse--infinitely worse-- and this she candidly acknowledged. There was little sympathy between herself and her employer. The latter had treated her with a certain courtesy, but she was a hard, dictatorial, narrow minded type of woman, and utterly intolerant of contradiction in any shape or form. As for the nominal head of the house he was a mere nonent.i.ty, a mere cipher.

Outside its limits he was a fairly prosperous stockbroker, and only returned home to dine and sleep, and seldom speak. Her charges were not particularly interesting or engaging children; empty-headed, selfish, and thoroughly spoilt. Still she managed to get on with them--and what was more--to get them on. And now she had to leave; to lose her means of livelihood for the time being--and Heaven only knew where and how she was going to obtain another--and all because a silly boy now at the other end of the world had chosen to fall in love with her at this.

Yet as she caught her three parts length reflection in the gla.s.s, Melian Mervyn Seward would have been no woman had she not known that upon that account the boy was not so silly after all. For it framed a really exquisite picture--that of a beautifully proportioned figure, neither tall nor short, in fact exactly the right height for a woman. The well-poised head, gleaming gold under the electric light was set upon a full, rounded throat. The blue eyes, beneath their well marked brows were steadfast, and full of character, and even more so if possible the set of the mouth. But the contour of cheeks and chin was perfect, and now that the reaction after the strife had brought an unusual glow of colour to the former the face was absolutely lovely. Here was a girl who well and tastefully dressed would have created more than a sensation in any big ballroom, and now she stood there realising more and more how utterly helpless and alone in the world she was, with her only means of livelihood taken from her, and with very precarious chances of finding another.

"Little fool!" she muttered with a stamp of the foot against the fender bar; the exclamation not being directed against herself but against her absent adorer. "Little fool! I expect he'll feel pretty sick when he hears what he's been the means of doing--if he ever does hear. Still-- he couldn't help it, I suppose."

Looking up, the blue eyes suddenly filled, then overflowed, for they had encountered a portrait of her dead father. She caught up the frame from the mantelpiece, and pressed her red warm lips pa.s.sionately against the cold gla.s.s, murmuring words of love and tenderness. Then she sank into a low chair and sobbed unrestrainedly--it may be that the reaction of the nervous system after her late pa.s.sage of arms had something to do with the breakdown. There came a knock at the door. Instantly she sprang to her feet, dashing the tears away. Heavens! they would be attributed to grief and fear over her dismissal. That would not do--no not for anything. It was difficult, however, to regain her self command at a brace of seconds' notice, and the maid who now entered with a telegram, subsequently and as a matter of course did set them down to that very cause.

The wire was a reply from her friend, a girl who made a living as a typist, and hardly comes within the scope of our story except in so far that now she wired that she could take Melian into her modest quarters for a night or two while the latter "looked about her." This was so far satisfactory. Melian wrote out another telegram in reply, saying she was coming on in a couple of hours, and gave it to the maid, which message of course supplied that young person with something to talk about, and conjecture about, below stairs. Then she set to work to pack in earnest.

Mrs Carstairs was not quite happy in her mind, while sitting in her morning-room waiting for her discharged _employee_ to come and take her leave--and her salary. She was not a bad hearted woman _au fond_, only there were times when the "_fond_" took a good deal of getting at. Now she had qualms. Miss Seward had not been wrong in saying she had given her good money's worth. She certainly had done that, and now the woman was already consumed with misgivings as to how she was going to supply her place. But as Miss Seward entered, this misgiving merged into a feeling of vague self-gratulation that it had turned out for the best.

The girl was looking lovely. Quietly but tastefully dressed, her patrician blood and bearing was never so manifest. She wore a large black hat--large without exaggeration--which framed and set off the beautiful refined face, and the velvety blue eyes. No, a.s.suredly she was too dangerously pretty to keep; otherwise there is no telling that she would not have climbed down even at the eleventh hour.

"Here is your cheque, Miss Seward," she said, "and there is the receipt form." Then having seen this duly signed, she added stiffly--"And now, good-bye."

"Good-bye, Mrs Carstairs. I'll just repeat to you. There was no harm whatever in that letter. I did not feel justified in showing you--only on principle, mind. Good-bye, children."

For the two girls had just come in. There was, as we said, nothing engaging about them. They were gawky plain girls, sallow faced and inclined to be hook-nosed too, with a skimpy black pigtail hanging down each of their backs. They showed no more feeling on parting with Melian than if she were just getting up from an afternoon call. They each stuck a limp bony paw into her palm, and there was an end of it.

She went downstairs. Her luggage--by no means the traditional, and feminine, "mountain of luggage"--was being stowed in and on a cab. A door on the ground floor opened into the hall. Within this stood the-- nominal--master of the house.

"I hear you're leaving us, Miss Seward. I'm sorry," he began rather jerkily. "Will you kindly step in here for a moment?"

Melian wondered, but complied. Seen in the full light, he was a quiet looking, keen faced man, keen as to the upper part of his face--that represented his moderate success on the Stock Exchange--falling away in the lower--that represented his subsidiary position as merely nominal master in his own house.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "You're very young, and I understand, alone in the world. This fuss, whatever it's about, is clean outside my department, but remember, if ever you want a friend--either to speak a good word for you--or what not--remember me. Good-bye, child."

She flashed a bright smile at him as she took the hand which jerkily shot forth at her. Then she went out.

"By gad, she's lovely!" exclaimed Carstairs, staring after her, "and the very perfection of a lady too. What a fool Adelina is to have got rid of one like that."

And Adelina, who from the upper landing was privily a.s.sisting auricularly at this scene, was for once, inclined to agree with the submissive one. Certainly it would not be easy to find an adequate subst.i.tute.

"Still--she's too pretty," she told herself with something of a sigh.

"Too pretty, and--too proud. Yes--far too proud."

And this reflection seemed to carry something of consolation as her mind went back to that scene in the forenoon, and how the girl had uncompromisingly declined to capitulate, while she herself had come out of it with far from flying colours.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

INTERIM--"FLU."

The Carstairs abode was a large, dull, ugly villa in a large, dull, ugly suburb--one of those depressing suburbs that is neither town nor country but has the disadvantages of both and the advantages of neither. But it was cheerfulness itself compared with the locality through which Melian's cab was now slowly jogging. The squalor of the greasy streets; the dank, thick atmosphere; the hoa.r.s.e, scarcely human yells and the incessant rumble and clatter attendant on that sort of locality are too well known to need any describing.