r office she had
a secretary who spoke of her with adoring awe, and when Una said that
she was a personal friend of Miss Magen the secretary cried: "Oh, then
perhaps you'd like to go to her apartment, at ---- Washington Place.
She's almost always home for tea at five."

The small, tired-looking Una, a business woman again, in her old
tailor-made and a new, small hat, walked longingly toward Washington
Place and tea.

In her seven years in New York she had never known anybody except S.
Herbert Ross who took tea as a regular function. It meant to her the
gentlest of all forms of distinction, more appealing than riding in
motors or going to the opera. That Mamie Magen had, during Una's own
experience, evolved from a Home Club girl to an executive who had tea at
her apartment every afternoon was inspiriting; meeting her an adventure.

An apartment of buff-colored walls and not bad prints was Mamie's,
small, but smooth; and taking tea in a manner which seemed to Una
impressively suave were the insiders of the young charity-workers'
circle. But Mamie's uncouth face and eyes of molten heroism stood out
among them all, and she hobbled over to Una and kissed her. When the
cluster had thinned, she got Una aside and invited her to the "Southern
Kitchen," on Washington Square.

Una did not speak of her husband. "I want to get on the job again, and I
wish you'd help me. I want something at twenty a week (I'm more than
worth it) and a chance to really climb," was all she said, and Mamie
nodded.

And so they talked of Mrs. Harriet Fike of the Home Club, of dreams and
work and the fight for suffrage. Una's marriage slipped away--she was
ardent and unstained again.

Mamie's nod was worth months of Mr. Schwirtz's profuse masculine boasts.
Within ten days, Mamie's friend, Mr. Fein, of Truax & Fein, the
real-estate people, sent for Una and introduced her to Mr. Daniel T.
Truax. She was told to come to work on the following Monday as Mr.
Truax's secretary, at twenty-one dollars a week.

She went home defiant, determined to force her husband to let her take
the job.... She didn't need to use force. He--slippered and drowsy by
the window--said: "That's fine; that'll keep us going till my big job
breaks. I'll hear about it by next week, _anyway_. Then, in three-four
weeks you can kick Truax & Fein in the face and beat it. Say, girlie,
that's fine! Say, tell you what I'll do. Let's have a little party to
celebrate. I'll chase out and r