sure you'll all be interested to learn I'm a pauper now, and intend to

support myself by plain sewing. Any work of this nature you may

choose to favour me with, ladies and gentlemen, will receive my most

earnest

attention."

She dropped a courtesy. The scene appealed to her taste for the

dramatic.

Billy came toward her quickly.

"Peggy," he demanded of her, in the semi-privacy of the vestibule,

"will you kindly elucidate the meaning of this da--this idiotic