She went to dances, but though sometimes she toddled a bit, mostly she sat
out or tucked in.

During her three years as a waitress several customers looked at her with
interest though without much principle.

The president of a well-known bank, the proprietor of a folding-bed
concern, a retired plumber, a Divinity student and a ticket-chopper.

None of these made her bat an eyelash.

For months no male came up for air. Then, the restaurant door swung back on
its noiseless check and spring, and in walked Big Bill Petticoat.




CHAPTER II

The Petticoats were one of the oldest and pride-fullest of New England
families. So that settles the status of the Petticoats. A couple of them
came over in the _Mayflower_, with the highboys and cradles and things, and
they founded the branch of Connecticut Petticoats--than which, of course,
there is nothing more so.

Of course, the Petticoats were not in the very upper circles of society,
not in the Dress Circle, so to speak, but they formed a very necessary
foundation, they stood for propriety and decency, and the Petticoats were
stiff enough to stand alone.