"I shan't have much time to sleep, anyhow. And when I do so I shall be
so tired!---What was the name I gave her, Clare?"
"Thompson. Mary Thompson."
"She surprised me, or I'd have thought of a prettier one." She was
absurdly high-spirited, although the next day's ordeal rather worried
her when she thought about it. She had, oddly enough, no trepidation
about the work itself. It was passing the detectives in the employment
department that worried her. As a matter of fact, however, there was no
ordeal. Her card was carried to the desk in the corner, where the two
men sat on whose decisions might so easily rest the safety of the entire
plant, and they surveyed her carefully. Audrey looked ahead, and waited.
They would come over and question her, and the whole fabric she had
built would be destroyed. But nothing happened. She was told she would
be notified in a day or two if she would be taken on, and with that she
was forced to be content.
She had a bad moment, however, for Graham came through the office on his
way out, and stopped for a moment directly in front of her. Her heart
almost stopped beating, and she dropped her glove and stooped to pick it
up. When she sat erect again he was moving on. But even her brief glance
had showed her that the boy looked tired and depressed.
She went to her rented room at once, for she must be prepared for
inquiries about her. During the interval she arranged for the closing of
her apartment and the storing of her furniture. With their going would
depart the last reminders of the old life, and she felt a curious
sense of relief. They had little happiness to remind her of, and much
suffering. The world had changed since she had gathered them together,
and she had changed with it. She was older and sadder. But she would not
have gone back. Not for anything would she have gone back.
She had one thing to do, however, before she disappeared. She had
promised to try to find something for Delight, and she did it with her
usual thoroughness and dispatch. She sent for her that last day in the
apartment, when in the morning she had found at the Perry Street room a
card telling her to report the following night. When Delight came in she
found the little apartment rather bare and rather dreary, but Audrey was
cheerful, almost gay.
"Going away for a little while," she explained. "I've stored a lot of
stuff. And now, my dear, do you really want to work?"