"Well, miss, you are flattering!" Mrs. Austin caught up an old bonnet and proceeded to put it on. She looked doubtfully at her visitor as she did so. Would it be safe to ask her to sit down in the house until she returned? She thought so, and yet, "One never knows who strangers are," she said to herself. She, therefore, closed the door, locked it, and put the key in her pocket, saying, "Perhaps you’ll step along with me, miss, then you’ll know sooner if you can have it." "Very well. And now," the girl continued, as they walked down the street, "I must tell you my name. I am Miss Sinclair." "Oh, indeed! And I am Mrs. Austin." "How much a week shall I have to pay you for your attic, if I take it?" "Well, miss, there is not very much furniture in it." "All the better. I shall require a good deal of room for my own things." "Shall you require much attendance?" "Oh, no, very little! But people will come to see me sometimes, and they will bring things and take them away--there will be a little wear and tear of your stair carpets." "I see, miss. Would six shillings a week be too much for you to pay?" "No, I can pay that." The girl’s face brightened; she had feared the rent would be heavier. "And I can give you a month’s pay in advance." Mrs. Austin looked pleased. When they reached Messrs. Boothby & Barton’s she went in alone to see Doris, and speedily returned, saying Miss Anderson had readily consented to the arrangement. She would remove her few things out of the garret that evening, and then it would be quite ready for Miss Sinclair. "That is very kind of her. She must be very pleasant," said Miss Sinclair. "I have been wondering," she continued, "what work a lady who paints can find to do in a shop like this?" Mrs. Austin told her, for Doris made no secret of her employment, and the stranger was greatly interested, and could easily understand the difficulty she had experienced in trying to sell her paintings. "The fact is, too many people paint," Miss Sinclair said. "There are nearly as many amateur artists as there are people to look at their productions. Your lodger is quite right in taking a more practical line. I’m doing that sort of thing myself." "Indeed, miss! What may you be doing?" Miss Sinclair did not answer, but went upstairs to look at Mrs. Austin’s garret when they got to the house, and, expressing herself as very well satisfied, engaged it at once, saying she would begin to use it on the morrow. Accordingly, the following day, just after Doris had gone to her work, Miss Sinclair arrived early, together with a couple of boys bearing great packages, canvas frames, and millboards. The boys went to and fro a great many times, bringing pots of paint, sheets of gelatine, etc.