stiffening. "Last year's! I got it yesterday
on Fifth Avenue, and paid two hundred and fifty for it. What do you--"

"Oh, I believe you," drawled Julia. "They can tell a New Yorker from an
out-of-towner every time. You know the really new thing is the Bulgarian
effect!"

"Well, of all the nerve!" began Two-eighteen, turning to the mirror in a
sort of fright. "Of all the--"

What she saw there seemed to reassure. She raised one hand to push the
gown a little more off the left shoulder.

"Will there be anything else?" inquired Julia, standing aloof.

Two-eighteen turned reluctantly from the mirror and picked up a jewelled
gold-mesh bag that lay on the bed. From it she extracted a coin and held
it out to Julia. It was a generous coin. Julia looked at it. Her
smouldering wrath burst into flame.

"Keep it!" she said savagely, and was out of the room and down the hall.

Sadie Corn, at her desk, looked up quickly as Julia turned the corner.
Julia, her head held high, kept her eyes resolutely away from Sadie.

"Oh, Julia, I want to talk to you!" said Sadie Corn as Julia reached the
stairway. Julia began to descend the stairs, unheeding. Sadie Corn rose
and leaned over the railing, her face puckered with anxiety. "Now,
Julia, girl, don't hold that up against me! I didn't mean it. You know
that. You wouldn't be mad at a poor old woman that's half crazy with
neuralgy!" Julia hesitated, one foot poised to take the next step. "Come
on up," coaxed Sadie Corn, "and tell me what Two-eighteen's wearing
this evening. I'm that lonesome, with nothing to do but sit here and
watch the letter-ghosts go flippering down the mailchute! Come on!"

"What made you say you'd report me?" demanded Julia bitterly.

"I'd have said the same thing to my own daughter if I had one. You know
yourself I'd bite my tongue out first!"

"Well!" said Julia slowly, and relented. She came up the stairs almost
shyly. "Neuralgy any better?"

"Worse!" said Sadie Corn cheerfully.

Julia leaned against the desk sociably and glanced down the hall.

"Would you believe it," she snickered, "she's wearing red! With that
hair! She asked me if I didn't think she looked too pale. I wanted to
tell her that if she had any more colour, with that dress, they'd be
likely to use the chemical sprinklers on her when she struck the Alley."

"Sh-sh-sh!" breathed Sadie in warning. Two-eighteen, in her shimmering,
flame-coloured costume, was coming down the hall toward the e