re being no door in the spread of shutters by which she
could gain admittance. Noticing that one or two men were dogging her
footsteps, she asked a policeman how she could get into "Dawes'."

"A new hand, miss?" asked the policeman.

"Yes."

"I thought so. First to the right and first to the right again, where
you'll see two or three open doors belonging to the firm," the
policeman informed her. He had directed many fresh, comely young women,
who had arrived from the country, to the "young ladies'" entrance;
later, he had seen the same girls, when it was often with an effort
that he could believe them to have been what they once were.

Mavis followed his directions and nearly missed the first on the right,
this being a narrow turning. Many-storied buildings, looking like
warehouses, were on either side of this; their height was such that the
merest strip of sky could be seen when Mavis looked up. She then came
to an open door. Above this was a fanlight, which fitfully lighted a
passage terminating in a flight of uncarpeted stone steps. It was all
very uninviting. The girl looked about for someone of whom to make
further inquiries. No one came in or went out; all that Mavis could see
was one or two over-dressed men, who were prowling about on the further
side of the way. A little distance up the turning was another open door
lit in the same way as the first. This also admitted to a similar
passage, which, also, terminated in a flight of bare stone steps. Just
as she got there, two young women flaunted out; they were in evening
dress, but Mavis thought the petticoats that they aggressively
displayed were cheap, torn, and soiled. They pushed past Mavis, to be
joined by two of the prowlers in the street. Mavis walked inside, where
she waited for some time without seeing anyone; then, an odd-looking,
malformed creature came up, seemingly from a hole at the end of the
passage. She had scarcely any nose; she wore spectacles and the uniform
of a servant. Before she disappeared up the stairs, Mavis saw that she
carried blankets in one hand, a housemaid's pail in the other. She
breathed noisily through her nostrils. When she was well out of sight,
Mavis thought that she might have got the information she wanted from
this person. Presently, the clattering of a pail was heard, a sound
which gradually came nearer. In due course, the malformed creature
appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"I've come," said Mavis to this person.