She could not say any more, for she heard her father coming in at that moment, and she dashed out of the back door and went through a gap in the hedge, and walked to some fields close by, where she sat down and cried to herself for several minutes. She managed to persuade herself that her mother was very unkind and unreasonable to think she could have all her money to spend upon Eliza, and that she had no right to say what she did about the watch. "I wonder what she would think if she knew I had to pay two pounds for it. She thinks ten shillings a lot of money, and so I shall keep it to myself that I have to pay any more." And Fanny thought she had better go home again and make the best she could of things, or some of the children would be sent to look for her. Just after she had started to run back, she heard her name called by a familiar voice, and the next minute she was joined by a girl about her own age, but dressed in a dirty-fine frock, and looking altogether so slatternly and untidy that even Fanny was struck with the contrast in their appearance. "Are you out for your holiday, Fan?" she said, as she slipped her arm in Fanny's. Fanny knew that neither mother nor father would be pleased to see her with Jessie Collins, and she tried to get away from her as they drew near their own house. But Jessie held her arm tightly. "I haven't told you half the news yet, Fan!" she exclaimed. "I tell you it is as true as I am here that there'll be work soon for all us girls, and we need not go to service, and I for one am very glad of it." "Oh, if you get a nice comfortable place, I don't see why—" Jessie laughed mockingly. "I do though," she said. "And I told mother this morning she needn't bother herself to look for another place for me, for I shall go to work in the blacking factory as soon as ever it opens." Fanny made a wry face. "I hate the smell of blacking," she said. "So do I," answered Jessie; "but it isn't so bad when it gives you liberty to go where you like in the evening, and dress how you like, too." Fanny glanced at her companion and smiled. But just then a voice was heard calling her in a loud tone, and she crept through the hedge again, and came face to face with her brother. "You've been out with that Jessie Collins, instead of waiting indoors to see me and father," he said accusingly. "I didn't go out on purpose to see Jessie," replied his sister, in an aggrieved tone. And she ran in to see her father. "Well, my girl, what made you run off just as I was coming in?" he said. "Oh, she caught sight of that Jess Collins," announced Jack, who had followed her into the kitchen. Her father looked from one to the other as Fanny's face flushed angrily.