The door was opened by a young girl, very neat in a black dress and white apron. She was sure we couldn’t speak to Miss Whitehall, but perhaps Mrs. Whitehall would see us and she showed us up the tiny little hall into the dining-room. I’d never have believed a room furnished so plain could be so elegant. There was a square of brown carpet on the floor and ecru linen curtains—no lace, just hemstitched—at the windows and on the side table some silver; yet it had a refined, classy look. Two doors opened from it, one into the hall hung with a blue portière and double ones that I guessed led into the parlor. We could hear voices coming from there, low and murmuring. By this time Iola was that nervous she was licking her lips with her tongue like a baby that’s had a sugar stick. I was just edging round to give her a dig and whisper, "Brace up," when the curtain into the hall was lifted and a lady came in. As she was well along in years—near to fifty I’d say—I knew she was Mrs. Whitehall. She was very dignified and gentle, with black hair turning gray and lots of lines on her forehead and round her eyes, which were dark like her hair and had a sad, weary expression. I guessed she’d been handsome once, but she looked as if she’d had her troubles, and when I heard her voice, low and so quiet, there was something in it that made me feel she was having them still. I’d promised to be spokesman and not seeing any reason to waste time I went straight to the point. Mrs. Whitehall stood listening, her hands clasped on the back of a chair, her eyes on the little fern plant in the center of the table. "Perhaps it would be best," she said, in that soft, faded sort of voice, "if Miss Barry were to see my daughter. I hardly know what to say to her." She turned and left the room by the hall door and Iola gasped at me: "Oh, Molly, it’s true!" "Don’t cross your bridges till you come to them," I said, but all the same, I thought it looked bad. "What’ll I do if the business shuts down?" "Shut up till you know if it does," I whispered back. The double doors rolled back and Mrs. Whitehall stood between them. She looked at Iola. "If you’ll come in here, Miss Barry," she said, "my daughter will see you." It was plain she didn’t expect me, so I stood by the table without moving. As Mrs. Whitehall drew back and before Iola got to the doorway, there was a moment when I saw into the room. It looked real artistic, flowered cretonne curtains, wicker chairs with cushions and low bookcases around the walls, the whole lit up by the yellow glow of lamps. But I wasn’t interested in the furniture—what caught my eye was a couch just opposite the open door, on which a woman was lying.