"Oh, my dear Doris, isn’t it lovely to be out here in the fresh air and sunshine, with you, too, at last? At last!" Alice’s feet almost danced over the ground, as with a smiling face she drew her friend along the Broad Walk in Regent’s Park. "Oh, I have so much to tell you! We have been parted ages--_ages_!" she cried. "Ages indeed!" sighed Doris. "It does seem such a long, _long_ time: and yet I suppose it is barely four months since you left me." "Months? Four months did you say? It seems like _years_! Why, it was the depth of winter then, and now it is spring, though the trees are bare yet," and Alice glanced up at the fine chestnut trees on both sides of the walk. "I am afraid I cannot walk so fast as this if I am to talk as well," panted Doris, as she was being hurried along. "Why, what is the matter with you? You dear thing, what is the matter? You are pale. You are ill?" Alice was looking at her now with great concern. "Not at all. I’m all right, only I cannot walk so quickly. You walk very fast." "How worn your clothes are!" cried Alice, scrutinising her closely. "And how thin you are! Doris, I believe you are _starving_." "Nothing of the sort." A bright colour had come into Doris’s face now, making it look more beautiful than ever, although it was so thin. "Have you had a good breakfast?" questioned practical Alice. "Yes. Mrs. Austin saw to that. She is very good to me." "Oh, Doris!" Alice read between the lines. Her friend had been suffering want; indeed, was suffering it now. "I am all right," declared Doris again. "Come, tell me, dear, what is the work you have found for me to do?" "Well, it is honest work, at all events, and although it isn’t at all romantic, it is interesting enough. I tried to get into several other things first, but found them all so difficult without a special training, and time is the commodity in which we are deficient: for what we want is immediate money--cash _down_" and Alice gave a little stamp with her foot to emphasise "down." "It is, indeed," cried Doris. "Go on quickly, please. Tell me what you have found for us to do?" It was a matter of vital importance to her, for she had reached her last coin that day, and her only hope was in Alice’s promised work. "It is account collecting. You know, calling at people’s houses for the money they are owing." "Oh!" Doris’s "Oh!" was rather dubious. Such work seemed indeed most unattractive.