Marble Arch Summary

After years of working at a cosmetics counter, Sophie is in business for herself, working long hours selling custom-made leather purses made by her old friend Peggy, whose life she has turned around. Peggy is Sophie's sole success in convincing anyone that hard work pays off. Long unable to land a job and having left home at odds with her parents, Peggy often turns to Sophie for money, to gripe about men, and to be bailed out when arrested or hospitalized. After three weeks in prison on prostitution charges, Peggy is confronted by her friend and told to straighten out or else. The rare display of anger reaches Peggy and she changes her ways. Cleaning herself up physically, Peggy asks to accompany Sophie on her rounds soliciting customers and asks how she might set herself up in business selling the leather...