"They're after me," panted the person under the table. All seven listened to thumping silence for several seconds, and then, as no pursuing outcry declared itself, the Stranger arose, without grace, from her hiding-place. To anybody except a member of a committee it would have been obvious that the Stranger was of the Cinderella type, and bound to turn out a heroine sooner or later. But perception goes out of committees. The more committees you belong to, the less of ordinary life you will understand. When your daily round becomes nothing more than a daily round of committees you might as well be dead. The Stranger was not pretty; she had a broad, curious face. Her clothes were much too good to throw away. You would have enjoyed giving them to a decayed gentlewoman. "I stole this bun," she explained frankly. "There is an uninterned German baker after me." "And why did you steal it?" asked Miss Ford, pronouncing the H in "why" with a haughty and terrifying sound of suction. The Stranger sighed. "Because I couldn't afford to buy it." "And why could you not afford to buy the bun?" asked Miss Ford. "A big strong girl like you." You will notice that she had had a good deal of experience in social work. The Stranger said: "Up till ten o'clock this morning I was of the leisured classes like yourselves. I had a hundred pounds." Lady Arabel was one of the kindest people in the world, but even she quivered at the suggestion of a common leisure. The sort of clothes the Stranger wore Lady Arabel would have called "too dretful." If one is well dressed one is proud, and may look an angel in the eye. If one is really shabby one is even prouder, one often goes out of one's way to look angels in the eye. But if one wears a squirrel fur "set," and a dyed dress that originally cost two and a half guineas, one is damned. "You have squandered all that money?" pursued Miss Ford. "Yes. In ten minutes." A thrill ran through all six members. Several mouths watered. "I am ashamed of you," said Miss Ford. "I hope the baker will catch you. Don't you know that your country is engaged in the greatest conflict in history? A hundred pounds ... you might have put it in the War Loan." "Yes," said the Stranger, "I did. That's how I squandered it." Miss Ford seemed to be partially drowned by this reply. One could see her wits fighting for air. But Lady Arabel had not committed herself, and therefore escaped this disaster. "You behaved foolishly," she said. "We are all too dretfully anxious to subscribe what we can spare to the War Loan, of course. But the State does not expect more than that of us." "God bless it," said the Stranger loudly, so that everybody blushed. "Of course it doesn't. But it is fun, don't you think, when you are giving a present, to exceed expectations?" "The State--" began Lady Arabel, but was nudged into silence by Miss Ford. "Of course it's all untrue. Don't let her think we believe her."