"Elizabeth," she said one day, "come and sit here by me. I want you to tell me all about your flat. Describe it to me, tell me what it looks like, and then I can picture you two to myself after Joan's gone. Is it sunny? Where is the flat? Isn't it somewhere near the Edgware Road?" "In Bloomsbury," said Elizabeth rather shortly; then she saw that Joan was listening, and added hastily: "Let me see, is it sunny? Yes, I think it is, rather; it's a very tiny affair, you know." "Oh, but big enough for you two, I expect; I wonder if I shall ever see it." "Of course you will, Mother," said Joan eagerly. "Why we expect you to come up and stay with us; don't we, Elizabeth?" Elizabeth assented, but Mrs. Ogden shook her head. "No, not that, my dear, you won't want to be bothered with me; but it's a darling thought of yours all the same. And now, Elizabeth, tell me all about Cambridge. When I'm alone here in the evenings I shall want to be able to make pictures of the place where my Joan is working." Elizabeth felt uncomfortable and suspicious; was Mrs. Ogden making a fool of her, of them both? She tried to describe the town and then the colleges, with the Backs running down to the river, but even to herself her voice sounded hard and unsympathetic. "Oh, dear, I'm afraid I've bored you," said Mrs. Ogden apologetically. And Elizabeth, looking across at Joan, saw an angry light in her eyes. 3 Mrs. Ogden gave the maid-servant notice, without consulting her daughter, who knew nothing about it until the girl came to her to protest. "The mistress has given me a month's notice, and I'm sure I do no what I've done. It's a hard place and she's awful to please, but I've done my best. I have indeed!" Joan went in search of her mother. "Why on earth have you given Ellen notice?" she demanded. "She's the best girl we've ever had." "I know she is," said Mrs. Ogden, who was studying her bank book. "Then why----?" "Well, you see, darling, I shan't be able to afford a servant when you've gone, so I thought it better to give her notice at once. Of course I couldn't very well tell her why I was sending her away, could I?" Joan collapsed into a chair. "But, good heavens, Mother! You can't do the housework. Surely with a little management you might have kept her on; she only gets nineteen pounds a year!" "Ah! but there's her food and washing," said Mrs. Ogden patiently. "But what do you propose to do? You can't sweep floors and that sort of thing; this is awful!" "Now don't begin to worry, Joan. I shall be perfectly all right; I can have a charwoman twice a week." "But what about the cooking, Mother?" "Oh, that will be easy, darling; you know how little I eat." Joan began walking about the room, a trick she had acquired lately when worried. "It's impossible!" she protested. "You'll end by making yourself very ill."