houlders aching with the strain, her mind still intent on the problems
which had tortured her all night, and only rousing herself when the
clock in a neighboring tower struck four. Then she gathered up her work,
wrapped the whole in the same sheet of tissue-paper in which the several
pieces had been packed, and, adjusting her hat and cloak, started for
Rosenthal's.

Mangan, who was in charge of the department, had been waiting for her
in a small room off the repair shop, and as he caught sight of her frail
figure making her way toward him, rose to greet her. "Well, I'm glad
you've come," he began, as she reached his desk. "Brought that Spanish
piece, didn't you? Ought to have had it last night."

She tried to smile, but his face was too forbidding. "No, I am sorry to
say that--"

"You didn't! What have you done with it?"

"I could not finish it. I have brought everything else. I will have it
for you in the morning."

Mangan looked at her curiously, a smirk of suspicion crossing his narrow
fox face. "Oh! You'll bring it to-morrow, will you?" he sneered. "Well,
do you know that to-morrow's New Year's Eve and that this mantilla's
got to be delivered to-night? They have been telephoning all day for it.
To-morrow, eh? Well, don't that make you tired! It does me."

An indignant protest quivered through her, but she dared not show
resentment. Only within the last few months had she been subjected to
these insults, and only her helplessness had compelled her to bear them.

"I am very sorry," she answered simply, and with a certain dignity. "I
have not been very well. I have done all I could. The damage was greater
than I expected. Some of the threads must be entirely restored."

"What time to-morrow?" Every kind of excuse known to the shop-worker
had been poured into his ears. Very few of them contained a particle of
truth.

"Before noon, if I can; certainly by four o'clock."

"Four o'clock?" he roared. He had already made up his mind that she was
lying, but there was no use in his telling her so, nor would any time
be gained by taking the work from her and handing it over to another
employee.

"Four means eight, I guess. What's the matter with ten o'clock? I got
to have that sure, and no monkeying. Can't you brace up and jam it
through?"

"I will try." Her cheeks were burning under the sting of his coarse
lashes.

"Try! You bet you'll try! Better get home right away. Give me that
bundle--I'll have it checked u