Then again, the change meant relief from anxiety. She had something to do, she would be paid for it. For three months or more she would be free from continuous alarm about the morrow. Here was occupation, cleanliness, comfort, good food, agreeable companionship. Over and over again she kept reminding herself of it. The days that followed her arrival were busy ones. The tour was to start in a fortnight. There was much shopping to do, packing, preparation for it. The small part Alexandra was to play, that of a parlormaid, did not take up much of her time rehearsing. Mrs. Lambert did not rehearse at all. Her understudy relieved her of that duty. Occasionally she would spend an hour watching her company and conferring with her manager, but so long as things went on smoothly, as they generally did, she avoided the theatrical side of her affairs as much as she could. The fact was, as Alexandra quickly found out, Mrs. Lambert disliked the stage. She loved acting because she had a gift for it. But she was not eaten up with her own achievements and was quite free from the artificial manner and the petty interests of average stage-folk. Her chief pleasure lay in getting away from London in her excellent Panhard limousine on every available occasion and forgetting that she belonged to the stage. Alexandra shared many a pleasant drive with her that hot end of July, lunching in the shade of some quiet Surrey lane or the more deserted parts of Richmond Park. A day or two before they were to start on tour they met Maggy in a Regent Street shop. Maggy’s appearance was very striking. Her coloring just now was more vivid than usual. She bloomed. "Oh, Lexie!" she exclaimed, "I was half afraid you’d gone off without saying good-by." "You know I wouldn’t have done that," Alexandra protested. "I haven’t given her a moment to herself," put in Mrs. Lambert. She was looking at Maggy with the frank admiration of an unjealous woman. "Are you great friends, you two?" she asked. "We used to chum together," Maggy said. "Lexie is my patron saint." "Well, then you must see more of her before she goes. Won’t you come and lunch with us to-morrow?—seventy-four, Albert Place." "I should love to," Maggy answered eagerly. "May I really?" "Yes, do," said Mrs. Lambert. "Half-past one." She nodded, and Maggy moved away to join Woolf, who had come in. He glanced curiously at Alexandra as she and Mrs. Lambert left the shop. "That’s Mrs. Lambert, with Lexie," Maggy told him. "I was just talking to them. Mrs. Lambert asked me to lunch at her house. Isn’t it kind of her? She looked at me so nicely too. Our hearts seemed to shake hands." Woolf had scarcely noticed Mrs. Lambert. He had only had eyes for Alexandra, and was incensed because she had not acknowledged him. "Your precious particular friend cut me," he said. "I suppose you saw that." "I’m sure she couldn’t have seen you. Why should she cut you?"