"They've got no brains at all," said Gaga. "They're like vegetables." Both laughed, in great spirits and familiarity. "Well, Sally.... My mother's.... She's a wonderful woman, too. She's been marvellous. Marvellous! She must have been like you...." Sally shrugged. "Bigger than me," she murmured, brooding upon an unwelcome comparison. "No. Not bigger. She's nearly three times as old as you. My father died, you see.... I was a child. She had to make a living. _Had_ to." "So have I got to," whispered Sally. "I got no father; and mother's in her second childhood." Gaga stopped. He looked at her. A singular expression crossed his face. "Now, you have to," he said. "Er, I mean.... Well, ... you won't always." "Mean, I'll marry?" demanded Sally, sharply. "Give it all up to cook the dinner and wash the front step?" She shrugged again. Gaga reddened slightly. "I.... I didn't think you'd do that," he said, hesitatingly. "I only meant.... What I wanted to say ... mother's not well. She's ill. She's really ill. She'll have to take a holiday. I wonder...." His hesitation was more prolonged than usual. He became as it were lost in a kind of doubtful reverie. Sally could not tell whether he was thinking or whether the wheels of his mind had altogether ceased to revolve. His mouth gaped a little. At last he concluded: "I wonder if I could ... if I could borrow you from Miss Summers. If she'd mind. If she'd let you go." There was a silence, while both thought of this possibility. "Look here," cried Sally, confidently. "Like this evening, Miss Summers left me there--all alone. I mean to say, she didn't _mind_. She wouldn't leave any of the other girls like that; but she left me. She knew it was all right. Well, I wouldn't mind stopping in the evenings and helping you. I'd like to. I'm quick. I could get through a lot of work." "Oh, but it wouldn't be fair," he objected. "Why not? I'd love it. See, I'd get overtime." Sally was really prompting Gaga in this last sentence. He frowned, and moved one of his long hands impatiently across some crumbs which lay before him on the table. "Oh, money...." he said. "More than overtime. We'd.... I say, it's splendid of you. It's a splendid way to do it." "Would you like it?" breathed Sally, her heart beating faster at the implication. Gaga reddened. His lips were pressed together. "It would be perfect!" he cried, vigorously. "How lovely!" Sally's face broke once more into that expressive grin. They sat smiling at each other, almost as lovers do who have stumbled upon an unsuspected agreement in taste. The mood lasted perhaps a minute Then it changed ever so slightly. "Would Madam mind?" next urged Sally. Gaga's face clouded. She was watching him breathlessly, and saw his fists clenched. His tongue moistened the lips so lately compressed. His head was inclined. At last, dubiously, he spoke.