Madam drew forward an armchair for her wealthy customer, and Clara Neville accepted the invitation, laughing heartily at madam’s look of dismay.
“Pardon me, my dear madam, I must plead guilty to the crime of eavesdropping. I was so charmed to hear you speak so kindly of one of your poor little working girls—won’t you please tell me about this little Maggie?”
Madam Ward was pleased at the interest Mrs. Neville appeared to take in the subject, and at once proceeded to tell all she knew of Maggie Gordon—which was nothing beyond the fact that Maggie had come there with Jenny Mason to learn the dressmaking and that she had evidently been reared in a higher sphere of life, as madam expressed herself, and lastly that she was growing paler and thinner every day for want of outdoor exercise.
Mrs. Neville listened with an expression of deep interest and sympathy on her face, exclaiming, when madam had concluded:
“Poor little one! I should like to see her. You are to send her down to the bank to-morrow, you say, or I should drive down here expressly to have a glimpse at her, you have interested me so in her story. Of course, I should come ostensibly on some errand concerning the work you are doing for me—as I came in reality to-night.”
“You can do so still, Mrs. Neville. Maggie shall go to the bank about one o’clock. The business will not occupy more than two hours of her time, and during the rest of the day you can see her,” replied madam, failing to notice the quick flash of triumph that glittered in the lady’s eyes at this piece of information.
A few minutes later Mrs. Neville took her departure, promising to call on the morrow; but when the car door was closed upon her she laughed aloud, muttering, as she glanced back to the house she had just left:
“If you see either your pretty Maggie or your two hundred dollars after you send her on that errand to-morrow, it will be because my plan proves a failure, which I think is scarcely likely to be the case.”
CHAPTER LIV.
IN THE TOILS.
All day long, while the eyes of her humble friend Jenny and the rest of her shopmates were on her, Iris preserved a calm and almost happy exterior; but when night came, and she lay awake by the sleeping Jenny’s side, then, indeed, the girl’s young heart was like to break, and the God in whom she trusted alone knew what she suffered.