She thanked him graciously and took the money with a kind of awe. Her
first earnings! It seemed so strange to think that she had really earned
some money, she who had always had all she wanted without lifting a
finger.

She went to a store and bought a hair-brush and a few little things that
she felt were necessities, with a fifty-cent straw telescope in which to
put them. Thus, with her modest baggage, she entered the home of Mrs.
Rhinehart, and ascended to a tiny room on the fourth floor, in which were
a cot and a washstand, a cracked mirror, one chair, and one window. Mrs.
Rhinehart had planned that the waitress should room with the cook, but the
girl had insisted that she must have a room alone, no matter how small,
and they had compromised on this unused, ill-furnished spot.

As she took off the felt hat, she wondered what its owner would think if
he could see her now, and she brushed a fleck of dust gently from the
felt, as if in apology for its humble surroundings. Then she smoothed her
hair, put on the apron Mrs. Hart had given her, and descended to her new
duties as maid in a fashionable home.

[Illustration]




VII


Three days later Tryon Dunham entered the office of Judge Blackwell by
appointment. After the business was completed the Judge said with a smile,