affected many of the girls in a like manner.

"No wonder," she thought, "that so many of them are pasty-faced and
unwholesome-looking."

She realised the necessity of providing the human machine with fuel;
she made an effort to disguise the scant flavour of the best-looking
bits she could pick out by eating plenty of bread. She had swallowed
one or two mouthfuls and already felt better for the nourishment,
when her eye fell on a girl seated nearly opposite to her, whom she
had not noticed before. This creature was of an abnormal stoutness;
her face was covered with pimples and the rims of her eyes were red;
but it was not these physical defects which compelled Mavis's
attention. The girl kept her lips open as she ate, displaying
bloodless gums in which were stuck irregular decayed teeth; she
exhibited the varying processes of mastication, the while her boiled
eyes stared vacantly before her. She compelled Mavis's attention,
with the result that the latter had no further use for the food on
her plate. She even refused rice pudding, which, although burned,
might otherwise have attracted her.

The air of the shop upstairs was agreeably refreshing after the
vitiated atmosphere of the dining-room; it saved her from faintness.
Happily, she was sent down to tea at a quarter to four, to find that
this, by a lucky accident, was stronger and warmer than the tepid
stuff with which she had been served at breakfast. As the hours wore
on, Mavis noticed that most of the girls seemed to put some heart
into their work; she supposed that this elation was caused by the
rapidly approaching hour of liberty. When this at last arrived,
there was a rush to the bedrooms. Mavis, who was now suffering