The girl was evidently trying hard for self-control. She had succeeded in choking down her sobs, but her voice was still tremulous as she went on.
“He was as pleasant and friendly as you’d wish. He said he was sorry about my difficulties and that he could offer me a job which would not only get me out of them, but would pay me well besides. And it wouldn’t interfere with my work at the cinema, for all he wanted could be done between times when I wasn’t selling tickets. He said it was the fine easy job, but it had one thing about it that I mightn’t like, and then he looked at me and asked me was I very straitlaced in my ideas.
“Well, as a matter of fact, Mr. French, I’m not straitlaced at all. So I did not, and he said that that was fortunate, as it was the only drawback the job had. There were some straitlaced people who might object to it, but not ordinary men and women of the world. Anyway it was safe enough and absolutely moral and no one would ever know anything about it. Besides I needn’t go on with it unless I wanted to.
“I asked him what the job was and he said that was going too fast, he would have to have my word first to carry it out for at least a week. After that I could go on or not as I liked. He said that if I promised he would begin by giving me enough to square Mr. Style. Then he said that maybe I would like a day or two to think it over and that I could come back and see him again.”
“A plausible ruffian,” French commented, now speaking in his pleasantest tones. “I’m sure that’s just what he said to your predecessors. And what did you answer?”
The girl hung her head.
“Well, Mr. French, I’m not pretending I didn’t do wrong, but just think of my position. I had only my job to live by and I was going to lose it in a way that would have prevented me getting another. Then there was this job offered me, maybe not just all right, but safe anyway. It was a choice of two evils; of possible ruin if I accepted or of certain ruin if I didn’t. I took the chance.”
“Of course you did. I can see the fix you were in and I’m not blaming you.”
“Well, to make a long story short, I told Mr. Welland I would take his job. He smiled and shook hands and congratulated me. He said I’d never be sorry for what I was doing and then he handed me ten pounds, saying that here was part of the money I owed Mr. Style and that if I paid this much Mr. Style would certainly give me time to meet the rest. He made me sign an I.O.U. for it, and he said I had better go and pay Mr. Style at once.
“Next time Mr. Style came to the Gardens I was waiting for him. He was very threatening at first, but when I showed him the ten pounds it changed his manner. He said he was glad I wasn’t going to make trouble and that he would take that on account and give me three more weeks to find the other fifteen. He was so pleasant that in spite of the job I felt easier in my mind than I had for many a day.”
“I don’t wonder,” French commented. “I think you did what any other girl would have done in your position, though I suppose I should not say so.”
“Mr. Welland had given me an appointment for two hours later and I met him in Hyde Park. He told me that one of his friends was in the Mint and had unexpectedly found a crate full of old half crowns in a disused cellar. He supposed they had been called in for renewal and been forgotten. The friend did not see why they should lie there, and he began taking some home every evening. But he was afraid to get rid of them, for some of them bore the Mint rejection mark. He had consulted Mr. Welland as to how this might be done, and that was where I came in. My job would be to pass out the half crowns to the public. Every morning Mr. Welland would give me so many and I was to pay them out in change at the pay-box. For every half crown I paid out I was to put another aside from the till for Mr. Welland, and when I met him next day I was to hand these over to him, less a percentage.”
“And did you believe his story?”
The girl hung her head.
“No,” she admitted in a low voice, “but as he put it it didn’t seem so bad. He said the whole business, so far as I was concerned, was perfectly honest. The half crowns were good and worth their full value. My cash at the cinema could be examined at any moment and would be found OK. The only thing the most straitlaced could object to was his friend’s taking these old coins from the Mint in the first instance. But I had nothing to do with that.”
“And once again, did you believe that?”
“No,” and the girl’s voice was very mournful, “and I said I didn’t to Mr. Welland. But it was no good. He said that if I felt the slightest qualms about the matter, not to go on with it on any account at all. He would be the last person to press me to do what I thought was wrong. If I didn’t like it I could drop it. I had only to hand him back his ten pounds and I would be clear of it.”
“He had you there.”
“He had me so that I couldn’t wriggle. I begged him to let me go,
