'And I always think how much I can afford to spend on my lunch,' said Elsie laughing. The men turned to the left top to go to their room, the women turned to the right to go to theirs. 'This way,' said Miss Laurence, and she opened a glass door, and Mildred found herself in what looked like an eating-house of the poorer sort. There was a counter where tea and coffee and rolls and butter were sold. Plates of beef and ham could be had there, too. The students paid for their food at the counter, and carried it to the tables. 'I can still afford a plate of beef,' said Miss Laurence, 'but I don't know how long I shall be able to if things go on as they've been going. But you don't know what it is to want money,' and in a rapid glance Miss Laurence roughly calculated the price of Mildred's clothes. A tall, rather handsome girl, with dark coarse hair and a face lit up by round grey eyes, entered. 'So you are here, Elsie,' and she stared at Mildred. 'Let me introduce you to Miss Lawson. Miss Lawson, Miss Cissy Clive.' 'I'm as hungry as a hawk,' Cissy said, and she selected the plate on which there was most beef. 'I haven't seen you here before, Miss Lawson. Is this your first day?' 'Yes, this is my first day.' They took their food to the nearest table and Elsie asked Cissy if she had finished her copy of Etty's 'Bather.' Cissy told how the old gentleman in charge of the gallery had read her a lecture on the subject. He did not like to see such pictures copied, especially by young women. Copies of such pictures attracted visitors. But Cissy had insisted, and he had put her and the picture into a little room off the main gallery, where she could pursue her nefarious work unperceived. The girls laughed heartily. Elsie asked for whom Cissy was making the copy. 'For a friend of Freddy's--a very rich fellow. Herbert is going to get him to give me a commission for a set of nude figures. Freddy has just come back from Monte Carlo. He has lost all his money.... He says he's "stony" and doesn't know how he'll pull through.' 'Was he here this morning?' 'He ran in for a moment to see me.... I'm dining with him to-night.' You're not at home, then?' 'No, I forgot to tell you, I'm staying with you, so be careful not to give me away if you should meet mother. Freddy will be back this afternoon. I'll get him to ask you if you'll come.' 'I promised to go out with Walter to-night.' 'You can put him off. Say that you've some work to finish--some black and white.' 'Then he'd want to come round to the studio. I don't like to put him off.' 'As you like.... It'll be a very jolly dinner. Johnny and Herbert are coming. But I daresay Freddy'll ask Walter. He'll do anything I ask him.' When lunch was over Cissy and Elsie took each other's arms and went upstairs together. Mildred heard Cissy ask who she was. Elsie whispered, 'A pupil of Ralph's. You shouldn't have talked so openly before her.'