“Why don’t you get a job as a companion to a nice old lady or somebody?” he suggested vaguely.

She laughed again.

“It doesn’t sound a bit attractive,” she said frankly. 41 “I think you need an awful lot of patience. It’s very kind of you to be interested, but I think I shall go back to Eldred’s, for a time, at least.”

Micky did not like the idea at all, but he let the subject drop.

“Are you going back to the Brixton Road?” he asked after a moment.

“Oh no; I paid them before I left this afternoon, so I shall go straight to the new place.”

“I should like to walk there with you, if I may,” said Micky.

“Of course you may.”

“And when shall I see you again?” he asked. “You’re not going to vanish for days, are you? I’ve got no end of time to kill, and–––”

“But I haven’t,” she reminded him. “At least, I shan’t have when I start work. But I should like to see you again,” she added kindly.