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Miss Silver said, ‘There is nothing you can do except wait.’
‘That’s the damnable thing.’
‘I will ring you up as soon as I hear anything.’
CHAPTER 30
On the third day of her search for work A
And then someone was speaking to her. A voice said, ‘Are you feeling ill?’ and she lifted her head and saw a girl of about her own age looking at her with concern.
‘No, I’m all right-now.’
The girl said in a deep, strong voice. ‘You don’t look all right to me. Come in and have a cup of tea. There’s a shop just here.’
A
‘Are you better? I should keep my head down a little longer. Can you take cocoa-because that’s what I’ve ordered. You look as if it would do you good. Don’t bother to answer if it’s all right.’
A
When the cocoa came she drank it and came slowly back. The girl was looking at her with frank curiosity.
‘What on earth have you been doing to yourself?’
A
‘Do you mean that?’
‘Yes, I do. I don’t know who I am.’
The girl pursed her lips and whistled.
‘I say that’s bad! You don’t really mean that, do you?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘But how?’
A
A
‘It’s difficult-’ she said under her breath.
The girl said quickly, ‘Don’t tell me anything you don’t want to.’
‘I-I had to come away again-in the middle of the night. It-it wasn’t my fault.’
‘What did you do?’
‘A girl took me in till the early morning. Then I came up to town.’
The round eyes gave her a searching look.
‘Had you anywhere to go?’
A
The girl said, ‘Now you must eat something. Those are quite plain buns.’ And, when A
‘I found a room. It took nearly all day’
The girl frowned.
‘You don’t sound enthusiastic’
A
‘It isn’t the sort of room that anyone could feel enthusiastic about. It was-dirty. So was the landlady.’
The girl frowned more deeply.
‘Don’t you know anyone?’
A
The girl clapped her hands together.
‘Is that the same Miss Silver I know about? She’s better than dozens of references!’
A
‘That’s the one-the one and only! I’ve only met her once, but she did wonderful things for a cousin of mine, Evelyn Baring, so you see we’re introduced, all quite properly. My name is Janet Wells. And yours is A
The colour rose in A
‘I’ve been calling myself A
Janet frowned.
‘Look here, you can’t stay in that horrid dirty room you’re in. I’ll come with you and get your things, and if you’d like to-well, there’s a room in the house we’re in. One of the girls went away last week, and the room wasn’t let when I came out this morning. So if you’d like-’
A
‘You don’t know anything about me,’ she said in a shaking voice. ‘Miss Silver doesn’t either-not really-only since she met me.’
Janet Wells took the hand, held it firmly for a moment, patted it, and let it go again.
‘You’d do as much for me, I expect,’ she said in a plain matter-of-fact sort of voice.
CHAPTER 31
It is much easier to be firm for somebody else than for oneself. Mrs Pink was all set to be disagreeable, and A
When they were in a taxi with A
‘That’s a nasty woman. You ought never to have gone there.’
‘I know. I’d been up half the night, and everywhere I went they seemed to be full. I-I must seem dreadfully stupid. I- I’m not always like this-I’m not really.’
‘Of course you’re not. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about anything.’
A sense of being looked after came comfortingly in upon A
‘A
She was still a little dazed as she paid the fare and followed Janet up the front steps of a big house in a square. There were names on brass plates. The hall had linoleum down, and there was linoleum on the stairs. Janet put a hand on the handle of the suitcase and said, ‘Come along up. We’re on the second floor. The room you can have is one floor higher up, but you can share our sitting-room if you like. Here, what’s the matter? Are you faint again?’
Artne was leaning against the banisters. She wasn’t holding the bag any more. It had slipped from her hand. Janet let go of the handle and put a firm, strong arm round her.
‘Sit down. Put your head down. I’ll get you up when you’re better. There’s no hurry.’
‘I’m so sorry.’ The words were only just audible. She heard the sound of ru