"Very well, then, four o'clock. But who is the appointment with? You won't need to find a berth now. You're a lady of leisure." "But I shall try all the same. I don't mean to be lazy just because he's so good to me. I shall save all I can. I went to an agency yesterday----" "They'll rob you," June protested. "They always do. I know what agents are," she added darkly. Esther laughed. But if she had hoped great things from her call that afternoon she was disappointed. The thin, aristocratic-looking person who owned the "Bureau," as it was called, looked at her with coldly critical eyes, and said that she had no vacancies likely to suit her. "But you told me to call," Esther protested. "Certainly; there might have been something," was all the answer she received. "Call again to-morrow, if you please." Esther went out dispiritedly. There were so many girls of her own class and age in the bare waiting-room; she felt quite sure that they would all get berths before she had a chance. She felt glad that she had June Mason to go back to. June was always sympathetic. She went straight upstairs to the sitting-room with the mauve cushions. June opened the door before she had time to knock. "I thought it was you. I heard your step. What's the matter? You sounded dispirited as you came upstairs." Esther laughed. "I believe you must have second sight, or whatever they call it. But you're right this time; I am rather down on my luck. They haven't anything at the agency to suit me. I----" She stopped, looking past June into the cosy room to where a man had just risen from a chair by the fire--a tall man--who looked across at her with eyes that were half-abashed, half-defiant. Micky Mellowes. CHAPTER VIII June introduced Micky and Esther with a sort of hurried self-consciousness. It was not by her invitation that Micky was here this afternoon, and the fact that she had asked him to help Esther embarrassed her. "Mr. Mellowes--Miss Shepstone; you've both heard of each other, so I can leave you to entertain one another while I get tea." And she bolted out of the room. Esther looked after her with angry eyes; she thought June might have stayed--she took a quick step forward to call her back, but Micky stopped her; he put a hand on the door above her head, shutting it fast. "I'm going to speak to you, whether you like it or not," he said. She faced him angrily; she was very flushed. "I don't know what you mean. You've no right to speak to me like that. If Miss Mason has asked you here to meet me----" "June didn't know I was coming. She has no more idea than the dead that we have ever met before. I haven't told her, and I don't suppose you have--or will," he added grimly. "However, as we are alone, will you tell me what I've done to offend you? It's not fair to take me for a friend and then fling me over as if I were an old glove.... If I've annoyed you, the least you can do is to tell me how and give me a chance to explain."