as in danger. There were new
purchases to be made, and new designs furnished. All that vast part in
the business which occurred before a customer entered into negotiations
had been managed entirely by Madam, and it was suspended in her absence.
Some of this work was routine, and could be conducted without her; but
as the days passed it became evident that important matters were being
delayed, that they were accumulating, that unless something could be
done quickly to check the slide the business would become mechanical and
its individuality be destroyed. Thus Sally learnt that her ambition had
led her to grasp at power which she could not wield. If she had been
able to go to work she could have learnt very easily. She had such quick
taste, and such confidence, that, with Miss Summers at her side, in
spite of many mistakes, she could have dealt with much that was now
slipping. But she was unable to leave Gaga. When she tried to explain
the needs of the moment to him Gaga turned weakly away, incapable of
grasping more than the fact that she was his wife and that he needed
her. At a speech concerning the business he shrugged his shoulders, and
became stupidly ineffective.

One night, when she was in bed, Sally thought of all this, and was first
despondent and then dispirited. The mood intensified. Once it had
gripped her she knew no peace. She was in helpless torment. Before she
knew quite what she was doing she had drawn the bedclothes over her head
and was bitterly sobbing. Little disjointed phrases were jerked from her
lips in this painful abandonment to fear and the sense of lonely
powerlessness. She was at last unrestrained in her admission of failure.
She did not know ... she did not _know_. By herself she could do
nothing. And there was nobody to whom she could turn for succour. Her
mother was useless, Mrs. Perce was useless. Her one support was Miss
Summers, and Miss Summers this evening had been unable to hide her
trepidation, but had sat licking her lips and blinking her eyes, which
held such concern that she could in no way disguise the cause of her
gloom. Miss Summers also, then, was full of foreboding; and Sally, tied
fast here, a child, thrown off her balance by illness and nervous
excitement, had lost confidence in her star.

When she was calm again she slept; but in the morning the preoccupation
returned to her, and her head ached, and the tears filled her eyes as
though she were fighting against grief. An