Victoria hesitated for a moment. The girl on the ladder looked round and jumped down. She was dressed in severe black out of which her long white face, mantling pink at the cheeks, emerged like a flower; indeed Victoria wondered whether she had been selected as an attendant because she was in harmony with the colour scheme of the shop. The girl was quite charming out of sheer insignificance; her fair hair untidily crowned her with a halo marred by flying wisps. Her little pink mouth, perpetually open and pouting querulous over three white upper teeth, showed annoyance at being disturbed. 'We aren't open,' she said with much decision. It was clearly quite bad enough to have to look forward to work on the morrow without anticipating the evil. 'Oh,' said Victoria, 'I'm sorry, I didn't know.' 'We open on Monday,' said the fair girl. 'Sharp.' 'Yes?' answered Victoria vaguely interested as one is in things newly born. 'This is a pretty place, isn't it?' A flicker of animation. The fair girl's blue eyes opened wider. 'Rather,' she said. 'I did the water colours,' she explained with pride. 'How clever of you!' exclaimed Victoria. 'I couldn't draw to save my life.' 'Coloured them up, I mean,' the girl apologised grudgingly. 'It was a long job, I can tell you.' Victoria smiled. 'Well,' she said, 'I must come back on Monday and see it finished if I'm in the City.' 'Oh, aren't you in the City?' asked the girl. 'West End?' 'No, not exactly West End,' said Victoria. 'I'm not doing anything just now.' The fair girl gave her a glance of faint suspicion. 'Oh, aye, I see,' she said slowly, thoughtfully considering the rather full lines of Victoria's figure. Victoria had not the slightest idea of what she saw. 'I'm looking out for a berth,' she remarked casually. 'Oh, are you?' said the girl with renewed animation. 'What's your line?' 'Anything,' said Victoria. She looked round the pink and white shop. A feeling of weariness had suddenly come over her. The woman at the top of the steps had backed away a little, and was rhythmically swishing a wet rag on the linoleum. Under her untidy hair her neck gleamed red and fleshy, touched here and there with beads of perspiration. Victoria took her in as unconsciously as she would an ox patiently straining at the yoke. To and fro the woman's body rocked, like a machine wound up to work until its parts drop out worn and useless. 'Ever done any waiting?' The voice of the girl almost made Victoria jump. She saw herself being critically inspected. 'No, never,' she faltered. 'That's to say, I would, if I got a billet.' 'Mm,' said the girl, eyeing her over. 'Mm.' Victoria's heart beat unreasonably. 'Do you know where I can get a job?' she asked. 'Well,' said the girl very deliberately, 'the fact of the matter is, that we're short here. We had a letter this morning. One of our girls left home yesterday. Says she can't come. They don't know where she is.'