akeful with anticipation.

The neighbors sometimes talked of certain "better days" that little Mrs.
Sommers had known before she had ever thought of being Mrs. Sommers. She
herself indulged in no such morbid retrospection. She had no time--no
second of time to devote to the past. The needs of the present absorbed
her every faculty. A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster
sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.

Mrs. Sommers was one who knew the value of bargains; who could stand
for hours making her way inch by inch toward the desired object that was
selling below cost. She could elbow her way if need be; she had learned
to clutch a piece of goods and hold it and stick to it with persistence
and determination till her turn came to be served, no matter when it
came.

But that day she was a little faint and tired. She had swallowed a light
luncheon--no! when she came to think of it, between getting the children
fed and the place righted, and preparing herself for the shopping bout,
she had actually forgotten to eat any luncheon at all!

She sat herself upon a revolving stool before a counter that was
comparatively deserted, trying to gather strength and courage to charge
through an eager multitude that was besieging breastworks of shirting
and figured lawn. An all-gone limp feeling had come over her and she
rested her hand aimlessly upon the counter. She wore no gloves. By
degrees she grew aware that her hand had encountered something very
soothing, very pleasant to touch. She looked down to see that her hand
lay upon a pile of silk stockings. A placard near by announced that they
had been reduced in price from two dollars and fifty cents to one dollar
and ninety-eight cents; and a young girl who stood behind the counter
asked her if she wished to examine their line of silk hosiery. She
smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds
with the ultimate view of purchasing it. But she went on feeling the
soft, sheeny luxurious things--with both hands now, holding them up
to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her
fingers.

Two hectic blotches came suddenly into her pale cheeks. She looked up at
the girl.

"Do you think there are any eights-and-a-half among these?"

There were any number of eights-and-a-half. In fact, there were more of
that size than any other. Here was a light-blue pair; there were some
lavender, some all black and various