‘What is your name?’

Her colour went again quite suddenly, and then came back in a flood.

‘Katharine Eversley.’

He turned to Miss Cole.

‘It seems to me that Miss Eversley is just what we are wanting.’

‘Really, Mr. Smith-’

He had a sudden and attractive smile. Miss Cole was not impervious to its charm.

‘you will be dreadfully overworked with Mr. Tattlecombe away. What on earth should we do if you knocked up?’

‘I have no intention of knocking up.’

William said, ‘Mr. Tattlecombe would never forgive me. You’ve really got to have some help. So if Miss Eversley – ’

It was no good, he meant to have her, Miss Cole could see that. And he was in charge – she couldn’t do anything about it. The soft, silly fools men were the minute a pretty face came along – and no notice taken of those that would make a good home and have everything comfortable! No good crying over spilt milk – that’s the way they were, and you just had to put up with them. She suppressed a sniff and said abruptly,

‘What about references?’

Looking back on it afterwards, William always found it so much easier to recall Katharine than to remember anything else. He had only to open the least little chink in his mind and she came in and filled it. She gave two references. Miss Cole talked to her, and she to Miss Cole, while he stood by. ‘As you have no experience, you will not expect a high salary. Would thirty-five shillings a week-’ He remembered that because of the way Katharine’s colour rose as she said, ‘Oh, yes.’ And just at the end Miss Cole enraged him by saying in her firmest voice, ‘No rouge, and no lipstick, Miss Eversley – no make-up of any kind. Mr. Tattlecombe is very strict indeed about that.’

Katharine didn’t blush this time. She smiled.