occasionally did one of them make a
remark to the other; for apparently they were strangers to one another.

At first the girls themselves attracted Polly's attention because the
larger number appeared so nervous and anxious. More than half of them
had their faces rouged and powdered and were fashionably dressed, yet
even when they smiled their expressions were uneasy.

They interested the country girl immensely. In order not to seem rude
or inquisitive she pretended to wish to gaze into a shop window near
them. Then, as they continued waiting and showed no sign of what they
were waiting for, Polly O'Neill's curiosity overcame her good manners.
Another girl had separated herself from the group and was standing
within two feet of Polly, also pretending to stare into the same window.

Polly edged closer to her. The young woman must have been nearly
twenty-five. She had been pretty once, yet already her face was
haggard and she had circles under her big brown eyes. Unexpectedly
Polly smiled at her, and there was always something almost irresistible
in Polly's smile.

"Could you, would you mind telling me why so many girls are standing
here in this one particular spot?" she inquired. "It is a cold day
when one is still. And yet I have been here almost ten minutes and no
one has even started to move away."

"We are waiting to try to get jobs," the older girl answered
listlessly. "And we have come sooner than we were told because each
one of us hoped to get ahead of the other."

"Jobs?" Polly repeated stupidly. "What kind of work is it that you are
looking for?"

"Oh, theatrical jobs," the young woman explained. "It's coming on to
be Christmas time and the managers are putting on extras for the
holidays."

She turned away from her questioner, believing that she had heard a
faint noise at the door near which they were lingering. A quick tug at
her coat attracted her attention again.

"Can any one apply for a position who wants it?" Polly queried. Her
eyes were shining, her cheeks were crimson and her breath coming in
kind of broken gasps as though she were frightened.

But the magic door had opened at last and the older woman had no time
to waste. "Oh, yes, any one can apply," she returned with a kind of
hardness. And then she failed to observe that the girl she had been
talking with was following close behind her.

Polly herself hardly realized what she was doing. Once more she had
yielded to tha