leased and flattered.

"Oh, thanks awfully," she drawled.

"I wonder if you dance much," continued Josie. "I bet you could do
barefoot dancing with such a foot as that. Now could you? Ain't her
foot a wonder?" to the clerk.

"I never saw a prettier," was his verdict.

"Well, I do dance," she confessed. "In fact, dancing is my profession.
I'm not working right now but expect to get back on the road
immediately."

"How thrilling!" cried Josie. Josie's intimates had often wondered at
her histrionic powers when she pretended to be stupid, which was her
usual way of disarming persons who might have been suspicious of her.
She had found out much about those archvillains Felix and Hortense
Markle by an assumption of supreme dullness. But no one of her
acquaintances had ever seen Josie assume the role of a skittish,
dressed-up miss, painted and brazen, talkative and impertinent.

"I'm just dying to go on the stage," she continued. "I get awful tired
of pounding out a living on the typewriter. I'd a sight rather make a
living with my toes than with my fingers."

The young woman bought the brown suede pumps and also a pair of black
ones similar to them. She had already selected several pairs of oxfords
and walking boots.

"You have to be mighty particular with your feet when you have to show
them," she said, Josie's expansiveness having had its influence on her
indifference. "I never can wear old shoes. They are simply ruination to
one's feet. As for cheap shoes--never! Of course, these are bargains
merely because they are a bit shop-worn."

"Shall I send these, lady?" asked the clerk.

"Ye-es--No! I had better take them with me. Wrap them up in as small a
package as possible."

Josie noticed a fat roll of greenbacks as the woman paid for her
purchases. Then, the large package under her arm, she walked off with a
slow, lazy, long-limbed grace. In spite of the conversation she had
held with Josie and the clerk she neglected any word of farewell.

"What can I show you, miss?" the clerk asked Josie.

"Nothing today, thank you! I reckon I'm due at my job. I'll be in
another day. Good-by!" and Josie was off on her quest. She followed the
woman from a safe distance up one street for several blocks and around
a corner. She went in the front door of a cheap boarding house not far
from the Higgledy-Piggledy Shop. From the fact that she did not ring
the bell, but merely walked in, Josie gathered that there she was
making h