IT was in London that the real battle began. In Algiers the scented winds made hideous and unnatural all thoughts of gain. On arriving in London Victoria ascertained with a thrill of pleasure that her bank had received a thousand pounds since October. After disposing of a few small debts and renewing some trifles in the house, she found herself a capitalist: she had about fifteen hundred pounds of her own. The money was lying at the bank and it only struck her then that the time had come to invest it. Her interview with the manager of her branch was a delightful experience; she was almost bursting with importance, and his courteous appreciation of his increasingly wealthy client was something more than balm. It was a foretaste of the power of money. She had known poor men respected, but not poor women; now the bank manager was giving her respectful attention because she had fifteen hundred pounds. 'You might buy some industrials,' he said. 'Industrials? What are they?' 'Oh, all sorts of things. Cotton mills, iron works, trading companies, anything.' 'Cement works?' she asked with a spark of devilry. 'Yes, cement works too,' said the manager without moving a muscle. 'But do you call them safe?' she asked, returning to business. 'Oh, fairly. Of course there are bad years and good. But the debentures are mostly all right and some of the prefs.' Victoria thought for a moment. Reminiscences of political economy told her that there were booms and slumps. 'Has trade been good lately?' she asked suddenly. 'No, not for the last two years or so. It's picking up though. . . .' 'Ah, then we're in for a cycle of good trade. I think I'll have some industrials. You might pick me out the best.' The manager seemed a little surprised at this knowledge of commercial crises but said nothing more, and made out a list of securities averaging six per cent net. 'And please buy me a hundred P. R. R. shares,' added Victoria. She could have laughed at the manager's stony face because he did not see the humour of this. He merely said that he would forward the orders to a stockbroker.