. But
we--of course we don't dare to make dates for dinner, lest we have to
stay late. We don't _dare_!"

"I bet _you_ do!"

"Yes--well, I'm not so much of a fool as some of the rest--or else more
of a one. There's Mamie Magen--she's living here; she's with Pitcairn,
too. You'll meet her and be crazy about her. She's a lame Jewess, and
awfully plain, except she's got lovely eyes, but she's got a mind like a
tack. Well, she's the little angel-pie about staying late, and some day
she'll probably make four thousand bucks a year. She'll be mayor of New
York, or executive secretary of the Young Women's Atheist Association or
something. But still, she doesn't stay late and plug hard because she's
scared, but because she's got ambition. But most of the women--Lord!
they're just cowed sheep."

"Yes," said Una.

A million discussions of Women in Business going on--a thousand of them
at just that moment, perhaps--men employers declaring that they couldn't
depend on women in their offices, women asserting that women were the
more conscientious. Una listened and was content; she had found some one
with whom to play, with whom to talk and hate the powers.... She felt an
impulse to tell Mrs. Lawrence all about Troy Wilkins and her mother
and--and perhaps even about Walter Babson. But she merely treasured up
the thought that she could do that some day, and politely asked:

"What about Mrs. Fike? Is she as bad as she seems?"

"Why, that's the best little skeleton of contention around here. There's
three factions. Some girls say she's just plain devil--mean as a
floor-walker. That's what I think--she's a rotter and a four-flusher.
You notice the way she crawls when I stand up to her. Why, they won't
have Catholics here, and I'm one of those wicked people, and she knows
it! When she asked my religion I told her I was a 'Romanist
Episcopalian,' and she sniffed and put me down as an Episcopalian--I saw
her!... Then some of the girls think she's really good-hearted--just
gruff--bark worse than her bite. But you ought to see how she barks at
some of the younger girls--scares 'em stiff--and keeps picking on them
about regulations--makes their lives miserable. Then there's a third
section that thinks she's merely institutionalized--training makes her
as hard as any other kind of a machine. You'll find lots like her in
this town--in all the charities."

"But the girls--they do have a good time here?"

"Yes, they do. It's sort of fun t