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She suffered tortures as they drove through the dark streets; and when at last the cab stopped close to the closed gates of Heeler's factory she flung herself from it headlong. But the whole building was in darkness, and when she shook the padlocked gates with frantic hands they yielded nothing.
"Faith! You shouldn't promise them such things, when you know it's impossible." She rebuked her daughter wearily. "You've got new shoes to buy out of your money this week, and there's the gas to pay...." Faith smiled and dimpled. The pendulum had swung the other way now, and she was hugging her secret to her breast delightedly. "I'm not going back to Heeler's any more," she said.
She caught her breath. "To-morrow! Oh, it's too soon!" "Too soon! What is there to wait for?" "I shall have to tell them at Heeler's, and there's Peg...." "That friend of yours? Well tell her afterwards when you tell your mother." Faith wavered. She would like to have told Peg, but she answered after a moment: "Oh, very well, but but not to-morrow!"
She brushed past the astonished girl unceremoniously, and went straight to where Farrow, the manager of Heeler's, stood in the hall, nervously twisting his hat. "What's the matter?" she asked, in her usual direct fashion. Farrow knew Peg well, and had always had a queer sort of respect for her, in spite of the odd things which he knew had been said of her from time to time.
"When I told her that you were Scammel and owned Heeler's," she repeated. "I knew, and I didn't see why she shouldn't know, too! Not that she believed it, though," she added, with a touch of chagrin. The Beggar Man made no answer, but he quickened his steps a little. He thought of Faith's strange manner towards him and Peg's words seemed all at once to have explained a great deal.
"His name isn't Scammel at all his name is Nicholas Forrester, and so...." Peg shrugged her shoulders. "So it may be, for all I know, but he's Scammel, and he owns Heeler's. Ask him, if you don't believe me. He's the man who brought that crowd of women round the factory I told you about stuck-up crew! He's the man who cut down our overtime money. Ask any of the girls.
Man-like, he hated to feel that he had made an unnecessary fuss. Peg did not answer. Her eyes were fixed on the dark night, and her hands hard clasped in her lap. Every second seemed an eternity. The speeding cab seemed to crawl. Presently she broke out hoarsely: "You are sure sure that's where he has gone to Heeler's?" "He told me he should go. He told me to meet him there," Farrow answered.
She told him what she earned at Heeler's, and asked double the amount if she consented to stay with Faith. "You won't be wanting me for long, anyway," she said, "so I'm for making hay while the sun shines." The Beggar Man gave her notes for the amount she asked without a word, and a faint admiration crept into her blue eyes. "Look here," she said, "are you acting on the square with Faith?
She told him the little she knew how that her father had been "a gentleman"; how his people had cast him off for marrying her mother; how that he had died three years ago, leaving them without a penny. "And I work at Heeler's," she added. "Yes, you told me that yesterday. And they treat you well?" "Peg says it might be worse. Peg is my best friend and I love her," said Faith fervently.
"My dear chap, at this time of night?" But he was unutterably relieved. Forrester's absence would make things so much more simple. "Yes, I must go down to Heeler's again. I'm afraid there's going to be serious trouble there. I don't like the look of things at all." Digby frowned. "Why don't you cut the whole show?" he asked.
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