e by was a pair of pink worn slippers very narrow at the toes
but bulging backward like a toy boat. On the sofa was a freshly
laundried pile of shirts with detached collars and cuffs, which Mrs.
Stone immediately began ostentatiously to snip along the frayed edges.
The room itself was full of sunshine, which gave it a cheerful air in
spite of the faded Brussels carpet and the old-fashioned walnut
furniture, a contribution from the house on Russian Hill. Mrs. Paula
wore a vastly becoming wrapper of red nun's veiling trimmed with a
yellowish lace that by no means looked as cheap as it was. She was
pretty to excess, one of those little brown women that men admire and
often trust. Had she been thin she would have been bird-like with her
bright darting brown glance, but her cheeks, like her tightly laced
little figure, were very round, and so crimson that they excited less
suspicion than the more delicate and favorite pink. And the brilliant
color suited her peasant style of prettiness, her full red lips, her
bright crisp bronze hair. She had a fashion of absently sweeping the
loose sleeves of her wrapper and "artistic" house-gowns up to her
shoulder and revealing a plump and charming arm; and the pointed toe of
shoe or slipper was always visible. Her arts were lost on Isabel, who
understood and despised her, but who regarded her as a sacred legacy
from her mother; Mrs. Belmont had been devoted to the pretty child she
had adopted just after burying three of her own, and who had waited on
her hand and foot to the day of her death. Isabel was always conscious
of putting on a curb the moment she entered her sister's presence, but
thought it good discipline, and only spoke her mind when goaded beyond
endurance.

"I tried to telephone," she began, but was interrupted by a deep sigh.

"The telephone is cut off--we owe for three months. Hateful
things!--they know we always pay some time or other."

"If you are so badly off would it not be more economical to make the
children's clothes--"

"Isabel! Much you know about children! One can buy ready-made things for
just half."

Isabel subsided, for she felt herself at a disadvantage before this
experienced young matron; although she vaguely recalled that whenever
she had presented the children with little frocks and sailor suits she
had expended a considerable sum. But doubtless she had gone to the wrong
shops. Mrs. Paula was one of those women that haunted the cheap shops
and bar