that expressed thoughtful sympathy, she encouraged the girl to speak
and confide in her.

'There's twenty minutes for each meal,' Monica explained; 'but at
dinner and tea one is very likely to be called into the shop before
finishing. If you are long away you find the table cleared.'

'Charming arrangement! No sitting down behind the counter, I
suppose?'

'Oh, of course not. We stiffer a great deal from that. Some of us
get diseases. A girl has just gone to the hospital with varicose
veins, and two or three others have the same thing in a less
troublesome form. Sometimes, on Saturday night, I lose all feeling
in my feet; I have to stamp on the floor to be sure it's still under
me.'

'Ah, that Saturday night!'

'Yes, it's bad enough now; but at Christmas! There was a week or
more of Saturday night--going on to one o'clock in the morning. A
girl by me was twice carried out fainting, one night after another.
They gave her brandy, and she came back again.'

'They compelled her to?'

'Well, no, it was her own wish. Her "book of takings" wasn't very
good, poor thing, and if it didn't come up to a certain figure at
the end of the week she would lose her place. She lost it after all.
They told her she was too weak. After Christmas she was lucky enough