Living Alone | Page 2

best friend to
marry. Lady Arabel was older: she was virtuous to the same extent as
Achilles was invulnerable. In the beginning, when her soul was being
soaked in virtue, the heel of it was fortunately left dry. She had a
husband, but no apparent tragedy in her life. These two women were
obviously not native to their surroundings. Their eyelashes brought
Bond Street--or at least Kensington--to mind; their shoes were mudless;
their gloves had not been bought in the sales. Of the sixth woman the
less said the better.
All six women were there because their country was at war, and
because they felt it to be their duty to assist it to remain at war for the
present. They were the nucleus of a committee on War Savings, and
they were waiting for their Chairman, who was the Mayor of the
borough. He was also a grocer.
Five of the members were discussing methods of persuading poor
people to save money. The sixth was making spots on the table with a
pen.
They were interrupted, not by the expected Mayor, but by a young
woman, who came violently in by the street door, rushed into the
middle of the room, and got under the table. The members, in surprise,
pushed back their chairs and made ladylike noises of protest and
inquiry.
"They're after me," panted the person under the table.
All seven listened to thumping silence for several seconds, and then, as
no pursuing outcry declared itself, the Stranger arose, without grace,
from her hiding-place.
To anybody except a member of a committee it would have been
obvious that the Stranger was of the Cinderella type, and bound to turn

out a heroine sooner or later. But perception goes out of committees.
The more committees you belong to, the less of ordinary life you will
understand. When your daily round becomes nothing more than a daily
round of committees you might as well be dead.
The Stranger was not pretty; she had a broad, curious face. Her clothes
were much too good to throw away. You would have enjoyed giving
them to a decayed gentlewoman.
"I stole this bun," she explained frankly. "There is an uninterned
German baker after me."
"And why did you steal it?" asked Miss Ford, pronouncing the H in
"why" with a haughty and terrifying sound of suction.
The Stranger sighed. "Because I couldn't afford to buy it."
"And why could you not afford to buy the bun?" asked Miss Ford. "A
big strong girl like you."
You will notice that she had had a good deal of experience in social
work.
The Stranger said: "Up till ten o'clock this morning I was of the
leisured classes like yourselves. I had a hundred pounds."
Lady Arabel was one of the kindest people in the world, but even she
quivered at the suggestion of a common leisure. The sort of clothes the
Stranger wore Lady Arabel would have called "too dretful." If one is
well dressed one is proud, and may look an angel in the eye. If one is
really shabby one is even prouder, one often goes out of one's way to
look angels in the eye. But if one wears a squirrel fur "set," and a dyed
dress that originally cost two and a half guineas, one is damned.
"You have squandered all that money?" pursued Miss Ford.
"Yes. In ten minutes."
A thrill ran through all six members. Several mouths watered.

"I am ashamed of you," said Miss Ford. "I hope the baker will catch
you. Don't you know that your country is engaged in the greatest
conflict in history? A hundred pounds ... you might have put it in the
War Loan."
"Yes," said the Stranger, "I did. That's how I squandered it."
Miss Ford seemed to be partially drowned by this reply. One could see
her wits fighting for air.
But Lady Arabel had not committed herself, and therefore escaped this
disaster. "You behaved foolishly," she said. "We are all too dretfully
anxious to subscribe what we can spare to the War Loan, of course. But
the State does not expect more than that of us."
"God bless it," said the Stranger loudly, so that everybody blushed. "Of
course it doesn't. But it is fun, don't you think, when you are giving a
present, to exceed expectations?"
"The State--" began Lady Arabel, but was nudged into silence by Miss
Ford. "Of course it's all untrue. Don't let her think we believe her."
The Stranger heard her. Such people do not only hear with their ears.
She laughed.
"You shall see the receipt," she said.
Out of her large pocket she dragged several things before she found
what she sought. The sixth member noticed several packets labelled
MAGIC, which the Stranger handled