"Yes, I will—but——"
"But what, Maura?"
"I'm in debt—dreadfully in debt. See."
With this she drew some papers from her pocket, and handed them to me.
One by one I looked them over. The first was a coal dealer's bill for a fairly large load of coal.
"That," said Maura, "was for old Mrs. Grant, in Black-Cross Buildings. She was so cold, it made me quite creepy to look at her."
I opened another. This was from a firm of motor-car and cycle dealers, and was the balance due upon a lady's cycle. I was perplexed.
"Why, you said you never intended to cycle," I said, with amazement, "and now you have bought this Peerless bicycle!"
"Yes, but it was not for myself," she said, "I gave it to Meg Morrison to ride to and from her work in the City! Trams and 'buses don't run to Kersley, and it was a terrible walk for the poor girl."
"Could not Meg have bought one on the instalment system for herself?"