The War-Workers

unsatisfactory, owing to the extreme haste with which she had conducted it, but was also about to make her late in arriving at the office. She threw an anxious glance at th

moving stream of market-carts, and arrived breathless at the offices in

seeing nothing for it but to put her bicycle into a corn

er of her staff as not even to exchange a "Good-m

graciously. "We're both

ok under the last signature as the clock struck ten, laug

off today," said Char Vivian, smili

t hearing an ecstatic gasp fr

and tone of easy kindness had secured for her litt

were like that, she told h

ession of weary concentration as

ss Delmege. Is th

her knees, in which lowly position she had been trying to coax the sma

at. She also was in uniform, and wore several curly stripes of gold

rough the thick, straight masses of reddish hair that hung over her forehead, Char

ale, fair skin powdered all over with tiny freckles, and beauti

mouth, and under her eyes that gave the odd impression of maturity. Her

e the great roll-top desk. Char Vivian's voice was deep and r

e-valley here? You really mustn't-but they're too love

he-valley had really cost more than she could afford, but those few words of apprec

murmured comments. She frequently affected an a

the Finance Department.... The Stores bill-to the Commissariat. What's all this-transport for that man in Hospital? I shall have to see to that myself. Look me up the War Office letters as to Petrol regulations, Miss Delmege, will you? Belgians again; they're very difficult to satisfy, poor people. Madame Van Damm-I don't remem

om the Overseas Hospital at three, and then there's that Miss Jones who's com

quarter of an hour at two o'clock. I can't really spare that,

he never relinquished to any one a business interview, so she merely l

tment for the day. That this supposition was not invariably correct was made manifest on this occasion by the demeanour of the unhappy Miss Plumtree, when her c

e o'clock, please-and I think that completes you

these averages include the first da

give the gross weight of the su

ll except the brisk tapping of Miss Vivian's long, slight fingers on the blotting-paper in front of her, deno

September, and O

es

s indeed it was, since Miss Plumtree had been engaged in conducting the quarte

nk y

room, with the consciousness o

may therefore have been responsible for the very modified enthusiasm with

her drawl slightly emphasized. "I thought

pinster anxiously. "Mrs. Tweedale and I cleare

cruelly, handing her a bundle of papers. "However, please take your af

ou, Miss

ft the room, the pleasurable anticipation

coiled twist of Miss Del

people are always asking for leave! I wonder what would happen if I to

been here," declared her secret

nderstand putting anything b

esolved that, after all, she would come and work on Sunday morning, although nominally no one came to the off

t, and the operator downstairs was unintelligent and twice

Henderson, what the dickens are y

o make rapid calculations on a large sheet of foolscap. She possessed and exercised

ly, the customary signal that she

se of it, and the services of the shorthand-typist, who was amongst the

time-limit of ten to five-thirty. But it was never difficult for Miss Vivian to commandeer volu

ning, Mis

s always gave her a sense of irritation. She was so jaun

k, never worked overtime, and had every Saturday afternoon off. Miss Vivian had once, in the early days of Miss Collins, suggested that she might like to wear uniform, and had received a smiling and unqua

brings them into contact with the men who have risked their lives for England," had been the f

g above silk-stockinged ankles and suede shoes. Even her red, fluffy curls were unnecessarily decked with half a dozen sparkling pro

r fall under that spell of personal magnetism to which the rest of the office was in more o

ry Organizations, and please do not use abb

an easily over her notebook, leaving

h served to emphasize the tired shadows beneath them

r failed to impress Miss Delmege, still writing at her corner table. In spite of frequent interruptions, Char pr

ge, please

he unhappy bearer of the card with a look

one to see you," she f

yed. Char Vivian, however, although frequently impatient, was not a passionate woman, and however much she might give rein to her tongue,

ared as she

ain Trevellyan t

nkfully and Miss Delmege retr

hair, a sheaf of papers, at which she on

al of herself and her work, and for an instant after Captain Trevellyan's booted tread had p

letter of even date, and wo

ve come for an off

any other way," he returned,

ay; we're in the midst

God, for the moment, and tell me something about th

oved of, brought forward a chair, and acknowledged Captain Trevellyan's pr

f officialdom by Miss Vivian's staff, with the exception of the unregenerate Miss Coll

litely, addressing his remark to Char, but casting a

y finished,

llins gaily, swinging a turquoise heart from

tones eminently calculated to allay any assumptio

m the room, her red head cocked at an angle that enabled her to

infelicitously worded inquiry which John was

enographer," s

here? She's longing to help you-couldn't ta

e her in the office; we have to be desperately official here, you know. Besides, it's such a comfort to get back in the evenings to some one wh

ther gallantly pathetic in the half-laughing turn of the phrase, and it sufficed for a weight

n Captain Trevellyan began to urge Miss Vivian to come

, and I really do want you to see how beau

stfully, "but I really mustn't,

official in Miss Vivian's regretful voice, caused the dis

declared to a fellow-worker whom she met upon th

all, balancing a wire basket full of official-loo

tell

icer, who wants her to see his new car. And she awfully wants

ay she is

isn'

about a quarter of an hour ago. Is he a Staff

nice-lookin

all. He's got a nice voice, too. Y

yself. Of course, that awful Miss Collins made eyes at h

I wonder if he's en

sudden access of discretion, implying a reticence which

yan and his motor-car had safely negotiated the cor

hen returned to her corner table, wearing an expression of comp

tion to our morning's work," she

o'clock, M

the Belgian files, will you? an

iss Delmege eagerly. "I-I thought p

the new car, I shan't leave the office till I have to go to th

to her own lunch

hat it'll be, you know. She'll sit there writing, writing, writing, and forget all about food, and then it'll be two

e ever go o

get them, especially now that the work is sim

asked Mrs. Bullivant from the head of t

t like it. She hates a fuss," M

explanatory ingratitude, was received

preted by her secretary, merely redounde

e most part accompanied by those who could not afford it-supplemented the meal with coffee and

k before Miss Delmege vent

't had lunch. Do let

ooked up, flu

ought. Send out one of the Scouts for a

ege, as she invariably di

he letter she was rapidly inditing, and h

ing acutely distressed, sat at a small table in

he paused in her pursuit of ever-elusiv

l long after ten o'clock, probably; but she never will have more for lunch, when she's very busy, than just buns and a pe