years been closest to her, and
had been partly in her hands, relinquish it and give it over into the
keeping of another. There were times, however, when she pitied Myra,
pitied her because Joe was engrossed in his work and had no emotions or
thoughts to spare. And she wondered at such times whether Joe would ever
marry, whether he would ever be willing to make his life still more
complex. She watched Myra closely, with growing admiration; saw the
changes in her, the faithful struggle, the on-surging power, and she
thought:

"If it's to be any one, I know no one I should love more."

There were times, however, when she mentally set Myra side by side with
Sally, to the former's overshadowing. Sally was so clean-cut, direct,
such a positive character. She was hardy and self-contained, and would
never be dependent. Her relationships with Joe always implied
interdependence, a perfect give and take, a close yet easy comradeship
which enabled her at any time to go her own way and work her own will.
Sometimes Joe's mother felt that Sally was a woman of the future, and
that, with such, marriage would become a finer and freer union. However,
her imaginative match-making made her smile, and she thought: "Joe
won't pick a mate with his head. The thing will just happen to him--or
not." And as she came to know Myra better, she began to feel that
possibly a woman who would take Joe away from his work, instead of
involving him deeper, would, in the end, be best for him. Such a woman
would mean peace, relaxation, diversion. She was greatly concerned over
Joe's absorption in the strike, and once, when it appeared that the
struggle might go on endlessly, she said to Myra:

"Sometimes I think Joe puts life off too much, pushing his joys into the
future, not always remembering that he will never be more alive than
now, and that the days are being lopped off."

Myra had a little table of her own, near the door, and this table, when
she was there, was always a busy center. The girls liked her, liked to
talk with her, were fond of her musical voice and her quiet manners.
Some even got in the habit of visiting her room with her and having
quiet talks about their lives. Sally, however, did not share this
fondness for Myra. She felt that Myra was an intruder--that Myra was
interposing a wall between her and Joe--and she resented the intrusion.
She could not help noticing that Joe was becoming more and more
impersonal with her, but then, she