Regarding her, such a nausea of bitterness flowed over Lilly that her lips were too wry to speak and she could have sobbed out her plight to the simple soul there, with her hands in the muff of her apron, and her gaze soft to tears upon the photograph. "That ain't so good of her, miss, as some her papa keeps down in the store. In Milan they call her the American Beauty. Auchinloss won't conduct 'Faust' without our Millie's Marguerite. How she used to practice it, miss, righd on that piano you seen in the front room. It's worth all the sacrifices we made for such a success like hers. I doan' know who you study with, but if you come to us here, I wand once you should let her old teacher, Ballman, hear you. He's the man that can find your voice if you got it." "Oh, I do want to come here, Mrs. Neugass. I--If only--. Will you--will you let me talk to you as I would to my own mother? I--somehow--I--I think you will understand--" Then Mrs. Neugass came closer, a little whisper of garlic in her breath and her eyes screwed to conniving. "Sa-y, miss, you doan' need to worry. Doan' tell it to my husband that the reduction came from me, but if three dollars is all you can pay, since it's for some one who will use the piano and liven up things a little, it's worth the difference to me in pleasure." "Oh, Mrs. Neugass, if you knew what a place like this would mean to me--now! If only you--" "All righd, then, for a few cents we doan' dicker. Say we make it three dollars, and on rainy mornings coffee and rolls so you doan' get your feet wet." "But I--" "We're blain beoble, miss, but we got a respegtable standing in the neighborhood for fifteen years. My husband's daughter by his first marriage is sixteen years bookkeeper down by Aaron Schmoll Paper Box Company in Green Street. We doan' got to rent, miss, unless it should be to the righd person. A nice young lady like you--" "But what if I were to tell you, Mrs. Neugass, that I'm a mar--" "You got references? It ain't I don't trust, but business is business, ain't it?" "I'm afraid I haven't. You see, I'm a stranger. Here from--the West to study. I don't quite like it where I am. In fact, I want to get out to-day." "Say, doan' I know how things can happen? For two months after she arrived in Munich, where she went first, my Millie used to write home, 'Mamma, I can't get myself settled righd.' In one place bugs and in another they complained of her practicing. I got sympathy for a girl trying to get settled. You can come righd away up into a room of mine, miss. There's no extra cleaning to be done." "Oh, Mrs. Neugass, if I may! I've only my valise and suitcase." A complete shrugging of Mrs. Neugass took place, her voice, brow, and manner lifting. "Valise and suitcase. Is that a baggage?" "I'm sending West for my trunks later, Mrs. Neugass." "You'm _Goyem_, not?" "Beg pardon?"