Alexandra did not move. She was dazed. The other girls melted away, all but one little creature in black who commenced to sob.
"Don't cry," said Alexandra, touched by her grief. "You must try and forget the disappointment."
The girl raised streaming eyes. She was very plain and wore her hair frizzed out all round her head. The fingers through which her tears had been trickling were red and work-worn.
"I paid him f-four pounds in gold," she wept. "And he s-said my voice was g-good enough to get me the engagement. And I've given notice at the place I'm at on the strength of it, and now I'll have to go back and ask to be kept on. Makes me ashamed of myself, it does, after what I said to the mistress about gettin' ten pounds a week on the stage. And now f-four pounds of good money gone!"
"Haven't you any left?"
"I've got eleven saved, but it would have been fifteen," sniffed the girl. She took it hardly that she had to pay so heavily for her experience.
"Well, then, cheer up," said Alexandra. "I haven't got fifteen shillings."
"Not in the world?"
"Not in the world."
"But you're a lady!"