er.

There came often to Winnebago a woman whom Fanny Brandeis admired
intensely. She was a traveling saleswoman, successful, magnetic, and
very much alive. Her name was Mrs. Emma McChesney, and between her and
Mrs. Brandeis there existed a warm friendship. She always took dinner
with Mrs. Brandeis and Fanny, and they made a special effort to give her
all those delectable home-cooked dishes denied her in her endless round
of hotels.

"Noodle soup!" she used to say, almost lyrically.

"With real hand-made, egg noodles! You don't know what it means. You
haven't been eating vermicelli soup all through Illinois and Wisconsin."

"We've made a dessert, though, that--"

"Molly Brandeis, don't you dare to tell me what you've got for dessert.
I couldn't stand it. But, oh, suppose, SUPPOSE it's homemade strawberry
shortcake!"

Which it more than likely was.

Fanny Brandeis used to think that she would dress exactly as Mrs.
McChesney dressed, if she too were a successful business woman earning a
man-size salary. Mrs. McChesney was a blue serge sort of woman--and her
blue serge never was shiny in the back. Her collar, or jabot, or tie,
or cuffs, or whatever relieving bit of white she wore, was always of the
freshest and crispest. Her hats were apt to be small and full of what is
known as "line." She usually would try to arrange her schedule so as to
spend a Sunday in Winnebago, and the three alert, humor-loving women,
grown wise and tolerant from much contact with human beings, would have
a delightful day together.

"Molly," Mrs. McChesney would say, when they were comfortably settled
in the living-room, or on the front porch, "with your shrewdness,
and experience, and brains, you ought to be one of those five or ten
thousand a year buyers. You know how to sell goods and handle people.
And you know values. That's all there is to the whole game of business.
I don't advise you to go on the road. Heaven knows I wouldn't advise my
dearest enemy to do that, much less a friend. But you could do bigger
things, and get bigger results. You know most of the big wholesalers,
and retailers too. Why don't you speak to them about a department
position? Or let me nose around a bit for you."

Molly Brandeis shook her head, though her expressive eyes were eager
and interested. "Don't you think I've thought of that, Emma? A thousand
times? But I'm--I'm afraid. There's too much at stake. Suppose I
couldn't succeed? There's Theodore. His wh