"You go along," admonished the girl spoken of as "Mamie Brady." Her words were flippant, even impudent, but her tone was both dejected and childish. She continued to work without a glance at either of them. Her fingers flew, tying the knots with swift jerks. "Well, you help Miss Brewster, if she needs any help," said Flynn, as he went away. "We don't have any misses in this shop," said the girl to Ellen, with sarcastic emphasis. "I don't care anything about being called miss," replied Ellen, picking up another piece of string. "What's your first name?" "Ellen." "Oh, land! I know who you be. You read that essay at the high-school graduation. I was there. Well, I shouldn't think you would want to be called miss if you feel the way you said you did in that." "I don't want to," said Ellen. The girl gave a swift, comprehensive glance at her as her fingers manipulated the knots. "You won't earn twenty cents a week at the rate you're workin'," she said; "look at me." "I don't believe you worked any faster than I do when you hadn't been here any longer," retorted Ellen. "I did, too; you can't depend on a thing Ed Flynn says. You're awful slow. He praises you because you are good-lookin'." Ellen turned and faced her. "Look here," said she. The other girl looked at her with unspeakable impudence, and yet under it was that shadow of dejection and that irresponsible childishness. "Well, I am lookin'," said she, "what is it?" "You need not speak to me again in that way," said Ellen, "and I want you to understand it. I will not have it." "My, ain't you awful smart," said the other girl, sneeringly, but she went on with her work without another word. Presently she said to Ellen, kindly enough: "If you lay the shoes the way I do, so, you can get them faster. You'll find it pays. Every little saving of time counts when you are workin' by the piece." "Thank you," said Ellen, and did as she was instructed. She began to work with exceeding swiftness for a beginner. Her fingers were supple, her nervous energy great. Flynn came and stood beside her, watching her. "If you work at that rate, you'll make it pretty profitable," he said. "Thank you," said Ellen. "And a square knot every time," he added, with almost a caressing inflection. Mamie Brady tied in the twine with compressed lips. Granville Joy passed them, pushing a rack full of shoes to another department, and he glanced at them jealously. Still he was not seriously alarmed as to Flynn, who, although he was good-looking, was a Catholic. Mrs. Zelotes seemed an effectual barrier to that. "Ed Flynn talks that way to everybody," Mamie Brady said to Ellen, after the foreman had passed on. She said it this time quite inoffensively. Ellen laughed. "If I _do_ tie the knots square, that is the main thing," she said. "Then you don't like him?"