“Wait a minute, Miss,” said the flashy woman.  “You needn’t feel bad about having references.  Everybody isn’t so particular.  You come with me, and I’ll put you in the way of earning more than you can ever get as a waitress.  You weren’t cut out for work, any way, with that face and voice.  I’ve been watching you.  You were meant for a lady.  You need to be dressed up, and you’ll be a real pretty girl——­”

As she talked, she had come nearer, and now she leaned over and whispered so that the timid woman, who was beginning dimly to perceive what manner of creature this other woman was, could not hear.

But the girl stepped back with sudden energy and flashing eyes, shaking off the be-ringed hand that had grasped her shoulder.

“Don’t you dare to speak to me!” she said in a loud, clear voice.  “Don’t you dare to touch me!  You are a wicked woman!  If you touch me again, I will go in there and tell all those women how you have insulted me!”

“Oh, well, if you’re a saint, starve!” hissed the woman.

“I should rather starve ten thousand times than take help from you,” said the girl, and her clear, horrified eyes seemed to burn into the woman’s evil face.  She turned and slid away, like the wily old serpent that she was.

Down the stairs like lightning sped the girl, her head up in pride and horror, her eyes still flashing.  And down the stairs after her sped the little, anxious woman, panting and breathless, determined to keep her in sight till she could decide whether it was safe to take a girl without a character—­yet who had just shown a bit of her character unaware.

Two blocks from the employment office the girl paused, to realize that she was walking blindly, without any destination.  She was trembling so with terror that she was not sure whether she had the courage to enter another office, and a long vista of undreamed-of fears arose in her imagination.

The little woman paused, too, eying the girl cautiously, then began in an eager voice: 

“I’ve been following you.”

The girl started nervously, a cold chill of fear coming over her.  Was this a woman detective?

“I heard what that awful woman said to you, and I saw how you acted.  You must be a good girl, or you wouldn’t have talked to her that way.  I suppose I’m doing a dangerous thing, but I can’t help it.  I believe you’re all right, and I’m going to try you, if you’ll take general housework.  I need somebody right away, for I’m going to have a dinner party to-morrow night, and my girl left me this morning.”

The kind tone in the midst of her troubles brought tears to the girl’s eyes.

“Oh, thank you!” she said as she brushed the tears away.  “I’m a stranger here, and I have never before been among strangers this way.  I’d like to come and work for you, but I couldn’t do general housework, I’m sure.  I never did it, and I wouldn’t know how.”