"Where at New Cross?" asked Mavis, fearful that her friend had inquired for her at Mrs Gowler's.
"I'd been given an address, but I lost it on the way. I described you to the station master and asked if he could help me. He remembered a lady answering your description having a box sent to an address in Pimlico. When I told him you were a missing relative, he turned it up."
"Why didn't you call?"
"I didn't know if you were Mrs Kenrick, and, if you were, how you would take my 'nosing' into your affairs."
"Why did you bother?"
"I always liked you, and when I feared you'd got into a scrape for love of a man, my heart went out to you and I wanted to help you."
Mavis bent over to kiss her friend before saying: "I only hope I live to do you a good turn."
"You've done it already by making friends with me. But isn't Hunter a pig?"
"I hate her," said Mavis emphatically.
"She tried to get my time for her holidays, but it's now arranged that she goes away when I get back."