CHAPTER VIII.
As thoughts of Pete came to Maggie's mind, she began to have an intense dislike for all of her dresses.
"What deh hell ails yeh?
What makes yeh be allus fixin' and fussin'?
Good Gawd," her mother would frequently roar at her.
She began to note, with more interest, the well-dressed women she met on the avenues.

She envied elegance and soft palms.

She craved those adornments of person which she saw every day on the street, conceiving them to be allies of vast importance to women.
Studying faces, she thought many of the women and girls she chanced to meet, smiled with serenity as though forever cherished and watched over by those they loved.
The air in the collar and cuff establishment strangled her.

She knew she was gradually and surely shrivelling in the hot, stuffy room.

The begrimed windows rattled incessantly from the passing of elevated trains.