London (England) -- Fiction; Theater -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Over it she slipped the fur coat. The warmth of it was better than a
fire. It permeated her, sent a glow all through her chilled body. She
looked at herself as well as she was able in the small mirror on her
dressing-table and—thought of De Freyne. De Freyne only wanted
well-dressed girls. She was well-dressed now. She had enough frocks to
keep her looking expensively dressed for many months. She could not go
another week without an engagement. Her money would not hold out longer
than that. Even supposing that De Freyne, following his usual custom,
should want to put her in the way of what he termed "a chance," she need
not necessarily avail herself of it. It was sophistry and she knew it.
Allowing herself no more time for thought she put on the toque, picked
up the muff and went out.
A motorbus took her to the theater. There she asked to see De Freyne,
fearful lest he should have forgotten her name. But De Freyne had not
forgotten it nor her. He saw her at once. He remembered the
circumstances under which he had dismissed her, her inability to dress
up to his standard and her resolve to keep straight. That had been too
novel to slip his memory.
His jaded, practised eyes took in her changed appearance, and priced her
furs more accurately than she had done. He knew they must have cost a
good many hundreds, and wondered who had paid for them. But he made no
comment and asked no questions. He would hear all about it in good
time.
"Come for a fresh contract?" was all he said. "That’s right."
Alexandra had not got back to Sidey Street when Maggy knocked at her
door. She looked very fetching and contented in a gray squirrel coat, a
present from Woolf. She often contrasted her lot with Alexandra’s and
felt uncomfortable when she thought of all she had and all that her poor
proud Lexie went without.
When she heard that the latter was out she decided to await her in her
room. Mrs. Bell accompanied her up to it. The first thing Maggy
noticed was the absence of a fire. The tidy grate showed that it had
not been lit that day. She shivered.
"What time do you expect her in?" she asked.
"She’s sure to be back by half-past four," said Mrs. Bell.
"Well, hadn’t you better light the fire?"
Mrs. Bell pursed her lips.
"She don’t like her room hot," she mumbled.
"Nonsense; it’s freezing!"
A look, such as a person who is about to reveal a State secret wears,
came into the landlady’s face. She dropped her voice to a tone proper to
confidences.
"To tell you the truth, Miss Delamere, I’m sadly afraid the poor dear
hasn’t the money to pay for a fire. I’ve lit a bit of a one sometimes
on my own, but coals is coals, and I’ve my living to make."
"My goodness! You ought to have told me," said Maggy accusingly. "You
know I would have paid for it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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