gs. I suppose you're afraid you'll have to wear
tights--or some nonsense like that."

"No, no. It's doing it at all. Such rotten music--and what a
loathsome mess!"

Mrs. Belloc's eyes flashed. "I'm losing all patience!" she cried. "I
know you've been brought up like a fool and always surrounded by fools.
I suppose you'd rather sell yourself to some man. Do you know what's
the matter with you, at bottom? Why, you're lazy and you're a coward.
Too lazy to work. And afraid of what a lot of cheap women'll
say--women earning their board and clothes in about the lowest way such
a thing can be done. Haven't you got any self-respect?"

Mildred rose. "Mrs. Belloc," she said angrily, "I can't permit even
you to say such things to me."

"The shoe seems to fit," retorted Mrs. Belloc. "I never yet saw a
lady, a real, silk-and-diamonds, sit-in-the-parlor lady, who had any
self-respect. If I had my way they wouldn't get a mouthful to eat till
they had earned it. That'd be a sure cure for the lady disease. I'm
ashamed of you, Miss Stevens! And you're ashamed of yourself."

"Yes, I am," said Mildred, with a sudden change of mood.

"The best thing you can do is to rest till lunch-time. Then start out
after lunch and hunt a job. I'll go with you."

"But I've got a job," said Mildred. "That's what's the matter."

Agnes Belloc's jaw dropped and her rather heavy eyebrows shot up toward
the low sweeping line of her auburn hair. She made such a ludicrous
face that Mildred laughed outright. Said she:

"It's quite time. Fifty a week, for three weeks of rehearsal. No
doubt _I_ can go on if I like. Nothing could be easier."

"Crossley?"

"Yes. He was very nice--heard me sing three pieces--and it was all
settled. I'm to begin to-morrow."

The color rose in Agnes Belloc's face until she looked apoplectic. She
abruptly retreated to her bedroom. After a few minutes she came back,
her normal complexion restored. "I couldn't trust myself to speak,"
said she. "That was the worst case of ingratitude I ever met up with.
You, getting a place at fifty dollars a week--and on your first
trial--and you come in looking as if you'd lost your money and your
reputation. What kind of a girl are you, anyway?"

"I don't know," said Mildred. "I wish I did."

"Well, I'm sorry you got it so easy. Now you'll have a false notion
from the start. It's always better to have a hard time getting things.
Then you appreciate them, an