III-IV

How well I remember the stiff little parlor
where I used to wait for Lena: the hard horse-
hair furniture, bought at some auction sale,
the long mirror, the fashion-plates on the
wall. If I sat down even for a moment I was
sure to find threads and bits of colored silk
clinging to my clothes after I went away.
Lena's success puzzled me. She was so easy-
going; had none of the push and self-asser-
tiveness that get people ahead in business.
She had come to Lincoln, a country girl,
with no introductions except to some cous-
ins of Mrs. Thomas who lived there, and she
was already making clothes for the women
of "the young married set." She evidently
had great natural aptitude for her work. She
knew, as she said, "what people looked well
in." She never tired of poring over fashion
books. Sometimes in the evening I would
find her alone in her work-room, draping folds
of satin on a wire figure, with a quite blissful
expression of countenance. I couldn't help
thinking that the years when Lena literally

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v?