on "Madame the Marquise's" mode of life. She took her lover aside
and urged him to report to the management Mavis's obstinacy; he
resisted, wavered, surrendered. Mavis saw the Marquis speak to a
shopman, of whom he seemed to be asking her name; he was then
conducted upstairs to Mr Orgles's office, from which he issued, a
few minutes later, to be bowed obsequiously downstairs by the man he
had been to see. The Marquis joined "Madame the Marquise" (who,
while waiting, had looked consciously self-possessed), completed his
purchases, and left the shop.

Mavis waited in suspense, expecting every minute to be summoned to
Orgles's presence. She did not regret what she had done, but, as the
hours passed and she was not sent for, she more and more feared the
consequences of her behaviour.

When she came upstairs from tea, she received a message saying that
Mr Orgles wished to see her. Nerving herself for the interview, she
walked up the circular stairs leading to his office, conscious that
the eyes of the "young ladies" in the downstair shop were fixed upon
her. As she went into the manager's room, she purposely left the
door open. She found Orgles writing at a table; at his side were
teacups, a teapot, some thinly cut bread and butter and a plate of
iced cake. Mavis watched him as he worked. As her eyes fell on his
stooping shoulders, camel-like face and protruding eyes, her heart
was filled with loathing of this bestial old man, who made the
satisfaction of his lusts the condition of needy girls' securing
work, all the while careless that he was conducting them along the
first stage of a downward journey, which might lead to unsuspected
depths of degradation. She itched to pluck him by the beard, to tell
him what she thought of him.