ig"--once more the expression was her own--without a
condemnation which Letty could not and would not submit herself to. So
she would get up and steal away with the first gleam of light.

She got up with the first gleam of light, but she couldn't steal away.
Once more she was afraid. Unlocking the door, she dared not venture
out. Who knew where, in that palace of cavernous apartments, she might
meet a woman, or what the woman would say to her? When Nettie walked
in later, humming a street air, Letty almost died from shame. For one
thing, she hadn't yet put on her shirtwaist, which in itself was poor
enough, and as she stood exposed without it, any other of her sex
could see.... She had once been on the studio lot when a girl of about
her own age, a "supe" like herself, was arrested for thieving in the
women's dressing-rooms. Letty had never forgotten the look in that
girl's face as she passed out through the crowd of her colleagues. In
Nettie's presence she felt like that girl's look.

She had no means of telling the time, but when she could no longer
endure the imprisonment she decided to make a bolt for it. She hadn't
been thieving, and so they couldn't do anything to her--and there was
a chance at least that she might get away. Opening the door
cautiously, she stole out on the landing, and there was, not a woman,
but a man!

Joy! A man would listen to her appeal. He would see that she was poor,
common, unequal to a dump so swell, and would be human and tender. He
was a nice looking old man too--she was able to notice that--with a
long, kindly face on which there were two spots of bloom as if he had
been rouged. So she capitulated to his plea, making only the condition
that if she took the hegg--she pronounced the word as he did, not
being sure as to what it meant--she should be free to go.

"Certainly, if madam wishes it. I'm sure the last thing Mr. Allerton
would desire would be to detain madam against 'er will."

She allowed herself to be ushered down the monumental stairs and into
the dining-room, which awed her with the solemnity of a church. She
knew at once that she wouldn't be able to eat amid this stateliness
any more than in the glitter of last evening's restaurant. She had
yielded, however, and there was nothing for it but to sit down at the
head of the table in the chair which Steptoe drew out for her.
Guessing at her most immediate embarrassment, he showed her what to do
by unfolding the napkin and l