with oil and dust, clad in
thin, shapeless, cotton dresses and shod with more or less worn shoes.
Many of them had their sleeves rolled up, revealing bare arms, and in
some cases, owing to the heat, their dresses were open at the neck. They
were a fair type of nearly the lowest order of shop-girls--careless,
slouchy, and more or less pale from confinement. They were not timid,
however; were rich in curiosity, and strong in daring and slang.

Carrie looked about her, very much disturbed and quite sure that she did
not want to work here. Aside from making her uncomfortable by sidelong
glances, no one paid her the least attention. She waited until the whole
department was aware of her presence. Then some word was sent around,
and a foreman, in an apron and shirt sleeves, the latter rolled up to
his shoulders, approached.

"Do you want to see me?" he asked.

"Do you need any help?" said Carrie, already learning directness of
address.

"Do you know how to stitch caps?" he returned.

"No, sir," she replied.

"Have you ever had any experience at this kind of work?" he inquired.

She answered that she had not.

"Well," said the foreman, scratching his ear meditatively, "we do need
a stitcher. We like experienced help, though. We've hardly got time
to break people in." He paused and looked away out of the window. "We
might, though, put you at finishing," he concluded reflectively.

"How much do you pay a week?" ventured Carrie, emboldened by a certain
softness in the man's manner and his simplicity of address.

"Three and a half," he answered.

"Oh," she was about to exclaim, but checked herself and allowed her
thoughts to die without expression.

"We're not exactly in need of anybody," he went on vaguely, looking her
over as one would a package. "You can come on Monday morning, though,"
he added, "and I'll put you to work."

"Thank you," said Carrie weakly.

"If you come, bring an apron," he added.

He walked away and left her standing by the elevator, never so much as
inquiring her name.

While the appearance of the shop and the announcement of the price paid
per week operated very much as a blow to Carrie's fancy, the fact that
work of any kind was offered after so rude a round of experience was
gratifying. She could not begin to believe that she would take the
place, modest as her aspirations were. She had been used to better than
that. Her mere experience and the free out-of-door life of the country
cau