with the
spirit of adventure, hurried toward Faber Street, which was already
thronging with people. It was bright here and gay, the shops glittered,
and she wandered from window to window until she found herself staring
at a suit of blue cloth hung on a form, beneath which was a card that
read, "Marked down to $20." And suddenly the suggestion flashed into her
mind, why shouldn't she buy it? She had the money, she needed a new suit
for the winter, the one she possessed was getting shabby...but behind
the excuse of necessity was the real reason triumphantly proclaiming
itself--she would look pretty in it, she would be transformed, she would
be buying a new character to which she would have to live up. The
old Janet would be cast off with the old raiment; the new suit would
announce to herself and to the world a Janet in whom were released
all those longings hitherto disguised and suppressed, and now become
insupportable! This was what the purchase meant, a change of existence
as complete as that between the moth and the butterfly; and the
realization of this fact, of the audacity she was resolved to commit
made her hot as she gazed at the suit. It was modest enough, yet it had
a certain distinction of cut, it looked expensive: twenty dollars was
not cheap, to be sure, but as the placard announced, it had the air
of being much more costly--even more costly than thirty dollars, which
seemed fabulous. Though she strove to remain outwardly calm, her heart
beat rapidly as she entered the store and asked for the costume, and
was somewhat reassured by the comportment of the saleswoman, who did not
appear to think the request preposterous, to regard her as a spendthrift
and a profligate. She took down the suit from the form and led Janet to
a cabinet in the back of the shop, where it was tried on.

"It's worth every bit of thirty dollars," she heard the woman say, "but
we've had it here for some time, and it's no use for our trade. You
can't sell anything like that in Hampton, there's no taste here, it's
too good, it ain't showy enough. My, it fits you like it was made for
you, and it's just your style--and you can see it wants a lady to wear
it. Your old suit is too tight--I guess you've filled out some since you
bought it."

She turned Janet around and around, patting the skirt here and there,
and then stood off a little way, with clasped hands, her expression
almost rapturous. Janet's breath came fast as she gazed into the