Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1916)

84 The Golden Chance "You mean I am to wear that? sparkled. And when Mary Denby's eyes sparkled one forgot the weary droop at the corners of the mouth, the cheeks pale with the pallor of the tenements. The sparkle in the big hazel eyes glorified the face and made you think of sunlight on rain-wet flowers. She pointed to her cheap waist, and then longingly to the lace-covered gown. "You mean I am to wear that?" Mrs. Hillary nodded. "Yes. It is just for one evening, and I will be greatly mistaken if you do not wear it with distinction. When you came this morning in response to my advertisement for a sewing girl I confess I was greatly surprised. Your manner, your speech, your youth, your lovely features, are so different from the average sewing woman. If I were to meet you on another footing and — excuse me — in other clothes, I should say you were well born." "I have not always been a sewing woman ; I have not always lived on Cherry Street," said the girl, the pallid cheeks growing pink. "But please — please don't ask me about my past." "A woman with a past ! Why, you are hardly more than a child, and yet you speak of a 'past.' " "I have been married five years." "Really you astound me," said Mrs. Hillary. "I think the legislature should prevent early marriages, especially among the poor. I suppose you have several children, too " "No, no. No children — thank God!" The last words were a whisper, but it was a whisper full of meaning, and Mrs. Hillary, who considered it excessively bad form to allow herself to be perturbed, changed the conversation. "Well, my dear, I want you to forget that you are a married woman for to-night. You are to be my guest,