“Then she got another position—­”

Miss Draper came into the room in time to hear Mrs. Gorman’s last words.  She walked swiftly to her sister’s side, her eyes blazing.

“Kate,” she said, her voice low but tense with emotion.  “Why are you troubling these strangers with my affairs?”

Before Mrs. Gorman could answer Dicky interposed.

“Just a minute, please,” he said authoritatively.  “As it happens, Miss Draper, I am in a position to make a proposition to you concerning employment which will provide you with a comfortable income, and at the same time enable you to pursue your studies.”

Mrs. Gorman uttered an ejaculation of joy, but Miss Draper said nothing, only looked steadily at him.  “This girl has had lessons in a hard school,” I said to myself.  “She has learned to distrust men and to doubt any proffered kindness.”

“I have been commissioned to do a set of illustrations,” Dicky went on, “in which the central figure is a young girl in the regulation summer costume, such as you have on.  I have been unable to find a satisfactory model for the picture.  If you will allow me to say so, you are just the type I wish for the drawings.  If you will pose for them I will give you $50 and buy you a monthly commutation ticket from Marvin, so that you will have no expense coming or going.  There are several artist friends of mine who have been looking for a model of your type.  I think you could safely count upon an income of $40 or $50 a week after you get started.  I know there are several other drawings I have in mind in which I could use you.”

Mrs. Gorman had attempted to speak two or three times while Dicky was explaining his proposition, but Miss Draper had silenced her with a gesture.  Now, however, she would not be denied.  “A model!” she shrilled excitedly.  “You’re not insulting my sister by asking her to be a model, are you?  Why, I’d rather see her dead than have her do anything so shameful—­”

“Kate, keep quiet.  You do not know what you are talking about.”  Miss Draper’s voice was low and calm, but it quieted her older sister immediately.

“I take it you do not mean—­figure posing.”  She hesitated before the word ever so slightly.

“Oh, no, nothing of the kind,” I hastened to reassure her.  “It’s the ability to wear clothes well with a certain air, that he especially wants.”

“And what do you mean by an opportunity to go on with my studies?”

The girl was really superb as she faced Dicky.  With the prospect of more money than I knew she had ever had before, she yet could stand and bargain for the thing which to her was far more than money.

“Show me some of your drawings,” Dicky spoke abruptly.

She went swiftly upstairs, returning in a moment with two large portfolios.  These she spread out before Dicky on the table, and he examined the drawings very carefully.

I felt very much alone; out of it.  For all Dicky noticed, I might not have been there.