The counter-clerk had just taken a telegram from a slavey, and, to give herself something to cover her, she snatched it out of his hand.

The gesture was so violent that he gave her in return an odd look, and she also perceived that Mr.Buckton noticed it.

The latter personage, with a quick stare at her, appeared for an instant to wonder whether his snatching it in _his_ turn mightn't be the thing she would least like, and she anticipated this practical criticism by the frankest glare she had ever given him.

It sufficed: this time it paralysed him; and she sought with her trophy the refuge of the sounder..