and physical vigor, and diplomacy. But above all there was that
sheer love of the game; the dramatic sense that enabled her to see
herself in the part. That alone precluded the possibility of failure.
She knew how youthful she looked, and how glowing. She anticipated the
look that came into their faces when she left polite small-talk behind
and soared up into the cold, rarefied atmosphere of business. She
delighted in seeing the admiring and tolerant smirk vanish and give way
to a startled and defensive attentiveness.

It might be mentioned that she managed, somehow, to spend almost half
a day in Petticoat Lane, and its squalid surroundings, while in London.
She actually prowled, alone, at night, in the evil-smelling, narrow
streets of the poorer quarter of Paris, and how she escaped unharmed is
a mystery that never bothered her, because she had never known fear of
streets. She had always walked on the streets of Winnebago, Wisconsin,
alone. It never occurred to her not to do the same in the streets of
Chicago, or New York, or London, or Paris. She found Berlin, with
its Adlon, its appalling cleanliness, its overfed populace, and its
omnipresent Kaiser forever scudding up and down Unter den Linden in his
chocolate-colored car, incredibly dull, and unpicturesque. Something she
had temporarily lost there in the busy atmosphere of the Haynes-Cooper
plant, seemed to have returned, miraculously.

New York, on her return, was something of a shock. She remembered how
vividly fresh it had looked to her on the day of that first visit,
months before. Now, to eyes fresh from the crisp immaculateness of Paris
and Berlin, Fifth avenue looked almost grimy, and certainly shabby in
spots.

Ella Monahan, cheerful, congratulatory, beaming, met her at the pier,
and Fanny was startled at her own sensation of happiness as she saw
that pink, good-natured face looking up at her from the crowd below. The
month that had gone by since last she saw Ella standing just so, seemed
to slip away and fade into nothingness.

"I waited over a day," said Ella, "just to see you. My, you look grand!
I know where you got that hat. Galeries Lafayette. How much?"

"I don't expect you to believe it. Thirty-five francs. Seven dollars. I
couldn't get it for twenty-five here."

They were soon clear of the customs. Ella had engaged a room for her at
the hotel they always used. As they rode uptown together, happily, Ella
opened her bag and laid a little packe