"Now tell me how you got away. He didn't get wise, did he?" "No; I just left the note, Loo." "That'll hold him for a while. You're the real thing, you are! Not that I want to make any trouble, but a blind man could see that you're a fool to spend your time that way. Huh! Sellin' gloves ain't no cinch, but if it ain't got being buried alive beat by a long shot I'll eat my hat!" Impressed by her friend's gastronomic heroism, Lilly acquiesced. "You're right. I'll try to get my job back to-morrow. Maybe it won't be so easy." "Easy?" cried Loo. "Why, the easiest thing you ever tried! The gloves haven't forgot you." "I hope not," sighed Lilly. "You're game, all right! I like to see a girl stand up for her rights--there ain't no man livin' could boss me! I'd like to see the King of Germany hisself coop me up seven nights in the week an' me stand for it. Not muchy! I got as much fight in me as any man. That's the kind of a hair-pin I am!" "I'm like you, Loo. I got to thinking over what you told me the other day, and you're right: there ain't no girl would stand for it. Girls gotta have life." "Of course they do! And you're going to have some to-night--that's what I got up my sleeve. Mr. Polly, in the laces, is comin' to take me to the Shippin' Clerks' dance up at the One Hundred and Fifteenth Street Hall--and you're coming right along with us." Lilly lowered her eyes like a debutante. "Oh, Loo, I--I can't go to no dances. I--Charley--I didn't mean--" "I'd like to know what harm there is goin' to a dance with me and my gentleman friend? Didn't Aggie go with us all the time Bill was doin' night-work? Before she got her divorce there wasn't a week she wasn't somewhere with us. Besides, Polly is a perfect gentleman." "But I ain't got nothin' to wear, Loo." "Didn't you bring what I told you?" "Yes; but--" "Well, then, you're goin'. If Charley Harkins don't like it he should have taken you to dances hisself." "I ain't been to a dance since the Ladies' Mask me and Charley went to when he was still playing matinees. I've almost forgot how." Her eyes were like stars. "Swell dancers like you used to be don't forget so easy." "My dress is old, but it is low-neck." "It's all right; and you can wear my forget-me-not wreath in your hair--it'll just match your dress." They took the frock from the wicker bag and held it up. "That's just fine, Lil; and you can carry my old fan--I got a new one from a gentleman friend for Christmas." "Loo!" Lulu piled her hair into an impressive coiffure. "Oh, Loo, you look just like that picture that's on cigar-boxes!" "You got the littlest waist I ever seen," reciprocated Lulu, regarding Lilly's sylphid figure with admiring eyes. "You ought to have seen me the first year I was working, Loo. I ain't got such a little waist any more, but I did have some figure then." They dressed in relays, taking turns about before the splotched mirror.