s, silk stockings and dirty white gloves, cologne bottles and
powdered circles of discoloured chamois, hair kids and curls of false
hair, handkerchiefs and hat pins, cheap imitations of jewellery, cheap
bits of lace, sidecombs, veils and belts and collars, and a hundred
other things, all wound up in an indistinguishable mass. From these
somewhat sodden heaps Connie and Rose cheerfully selected what they
needed, leaning over constantly to inspect their faces closely in the
mirrors.

Julia watched them with a sudden, new, and almost terrifying distaste
growing in her heart. How dirty and shiftless and common--yes,
common--these girls were! Julia felt sick with the force of the
revelation. She saw Connie lace her shabby pink-brocade corset together
with a black shoestring; she saw Rose close with white thread a great
hole in the heel of a black silk stocking. Their crimped hair nauseated
her, their rouge and powder and cologne. She could hardly listen in
patience to their careless and sometimes coarse chatter.

And when they were gone she still lay there, thinking--thinking--
thinking! The sunlight crept lower and lower over the room's disorder;
its last bright triangle was gone, twilight came, and the soft early
darkness.

Mrs. Tarbury presently called Julia, in mellifluous accents, and the
girl pulled herself stiffly from the bed, and went blinking down to an
improvised supper. They two were alone in the big house, and fell into
intimate conversation over their sardines and coffee and jam, discussing
the characters of every person in the house with much attention to
trivial detail. At nine o'clock some friends came in to see Mrs.
Tarbury, and Julia went upstairs again.

She lighted the bedroom, and began idly to fold and straighten the
clothes that were strewn about everywhere. But she very speedily gave up
the task: there were no closets to hang things in, and many things were
too torn or dirty to be hung up, anyway! Julia went down one flight of
stairs to the nearest bathroom, in search of hot water, but both faucets
ran cold, and she went upstairs again. She hunted through Connie's
bureau and Rose's for a fresh nightgown, but not finding one, had to put
on the limp and torn garment one of the girls had loaned her a week or
two before.

Now she sat down on the edge of her bed, vaguely discouraged. Tears came
to her eyes, she did not quite know why. She opened a novel, and
composed herself to read, but could not b