Faith had laughed.
"No; what could be the matter?" and Mrs. Ledley said, slowly: "I only wondered——"
This day seemed interminable. Faith did her work slowly and badly. She knew that Miss Dell had real cause for her frequent complaints. She was thankful when at last it was time to go.
She snatched up her hat and was first out of the factory; she reached the end of the road hot and breathless with her haste.
The Beggar Man was not there.
Faith looked eagerly up and down the road, but there was no sign of him, and a thrill of apprehension touched her heart.
Had it after all been a dream, and was she never to see him again? She walked on slowly.
Perhaps she was too soon—perhaps something had happened to detain him. She looked up and down the street for a clock, but there was not one to be seen. She retraced her steps slowly; he would come! Of course he would come! In a moment she would see him turn the corner—in a moment she would hear his voice....
She tried to think of something else, so that the time would pass more quickly, but she could not concentrate her thoughts.
Supposing he had not been serious! Supposing all her wonderful dreams were never to come to anything after all! Supposing she had still to go on, week in and week out, in Heeler's noisy, stifling factory. A feeling of desperation seized her—she could not bear it—she would die if she never saw him again. She remembered in a panic that she did not know where to find him, that he had never told her where he lived, or given her any address.