s is a step up in life.

It was, of course, not ideal that the Marchese di Rivoli had no
remaining family estates of which his _fiancee_ could talk, and there
were creatures ready to swear not only that he had come to Palm Beach
to pick up an heiress, but that the penniless princess who introduced
him to Miss Rolls had received a commission. Still there are always
family estates in the market, and where a coronet is there is gossip
also. Only the cat tribe start or believe it, and even cats purr to a
_marchesa_, lest they may want to visit Italy next year.

In the Turkish bath which was New York that July, Peter Rolls's
department store was one of the hot rooms. Miss Rolls did not come
over from Long Island to choose her trousseau there, as a badly
informed newspaper announced that she would do. She went to London and
Paris instead, because it was cooler as well as smarter to put the
Atlantic between her and "New York with the lid off." She ran over
with the divorced Italian princess who had made her acquainted with
the Marchese di Rivoli, and mother and Peter were released.

No doubt other big stores were as hot or hotter than Peter Rolls's
that July; but it seemed to Winifred Child that the Tropic of Cancer
might have breezes which the Hands missed. Those of the salespeople
who did not look as if at any moment their eyes might come out and all
their veins burst, were living advertisements for Somebody's
Anti-Anemia Mixture before the mixture was taken. Win was of the
latter type. She had become so pale and thin that Sadie Kirk compared
her to a celery stalk. Sadie herself had, according to her own
criticism, "shrunk and faded in the wash," but the two girls had now
few chances of "passing remarks" on each other's appearance, for,
though Sadie was still in Toys, Win had been put into Mantles.

This in itself was a solution of the Meggison mystery. The girl's
"cheek" had frightened the would-be "dog" and reminded him that a
model superintendent must never lose a born saleswoman. But he had not
sent for Win again, and Gloves were not for such as she.

Sadie, having "sauced" her landlady, found it wise to change her
quarters. She had taken a room in an apartment house two blocks
removed from her former home, and Win, not being able to afford a
"flit," remained at the old address. At first, when her pay was
increased by two dollars a week, she had intended to save and follow
Sadie. One had, however, to live mostly on