East Side tradition has it that every tenth year exacts the largest share of human toil--this might have been Death's Oberammergau! Trembling, Lilly turned and groped her way into the little bedroom; drawers slid open and slammed shut, tissue-paper rattled, the hasps of a trunk snapped; then came the harsh sing of water pouring from a faucet. Presently she reappeared in the doorway in a fresh white blouse and a dark-blue skirt; there were pink cotton rosebuds on her hat and a long pair of white silk gloves dangling from one hand. In the other she carried a light wicker hand-satchel. By the shaft of light she reread the small square of yellow paper and impaled it carefully, face up, on the pincushion of their little dressing-table. It poised like a conspicuous butterfly. Then she went out into the kitchen, poured a glass of milk, placed it beside a small cake of ice in a correspondingly small refrigerator, turned off the gas-light, and went out of the apartment without once glancing behind her. * * * * * Miss Lulu Tracy lived in a lower West Side rooming-house. Lily had once dwelt in that same dingy-fronted building, in a room which, like her friend's, was reduced to its lowest terms. The familiar cryptic atmosphere met her as she crossed the threshold. Loo greeted her effusively. "Lordy, Lil, I was afraid you was gettin' cold feet! Sit right down there on the trunk till I get some of this cold-cream off. I'm ready to drop in my tracks, I am. Three of the lace-girls fainted to-day and had to be took home. Ain't this room awful?" Lilly sank in a little heap on the trunk. "It _is_ hot," she admitted. "Hot? You look like a cucumber. Wait'll I get this cold-cream off, and tell me all about it. I'm here to tell you that you're all right, you are. Give me a game one every time! But wait till I tell you what's up." Miss Tracy laved her face with layers of cold-cream, which she presently removed with a towel. "Don't I wish I had your skin, Lil!" Lilly brightened. "Quit your kiddin', Loo," she said. "I ain't used to jollying no more." "You know yourself you was the best looker we ever had at the counter. Skinny calls you The Lily to this day." "I ain't got the looks I once had, Loo." But her fair face flushed. "Wait till you get round a little--you'll look five years younger." Lilly giggled. "On the real, Lil, there wasn't a girl in the department didn't expect you to marry some swell instead of Charley Harkins. If I'd 'a' had your looks I wouldn't been satisfied with nothin' but the real thing. Look at Tootsie grabbin' old man Rickman! She can't hold a candle to you." "Just the samey, she'd 'a' rather had Charley if she could 'a' got him. I know a thing or two about that." Cold-cream removed, Miss Tracy enveloped her friend in an embrace. "So you're goin' to bunk with me to-night! Seems like old times, don't it?" "Just like old times," said Lilly.