The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-03-22
BEE EARNS HER PAY
CHAPTER XI

frightened at the swift approach o her marriage to Clarence. She hat wanted to escape.
 But now, her interest in thi store that Grandfather had founded was lending point and direction t the madcap masquerade. She fel strongly that she could be usefu here. There were so many thing about the store she was sure Grand. father would not have approved 1, he could know! She wanted tC change the store, better 1t. Now sht was learning 1t from the very bot tom in the most intimate and re. vealing manner.
 Still, often, in the days that fol. lowed, Beatrice was tempted tC throw up the sponge, This life was tough!
 Waking up to the shrill cry of the alarm clock, drinking her breakfast black, battling f." a seat on the sub way, was not fun. It was not fun either, to take what Toby called "Miss Danes lip" It was not fun to be snubbed by customers whose grammar was incredible and whose manners were worse. Not fun tc stand on her feet all day enduring the agony of burning soles and ach- ing arches while her lips held the smile which Huntingtons insisted on.
 And 1t was frightening to dis cover that she wasn't half so beau- tiful as she used to be. Without the customary three visits a week to the beauty salon, her hair had lost the sweet, clean upward sweep of her forehead. Its bright gold had darkened. "Or do only imagine it2 T hese curls I roll up myself on those wire gadgets are awfulp
 She saw her own hands grow lng grubby, as Toby's had been that day on the subway. She did her own nails at night, and mutt lated her cuticle. Without bath salts and massage, her very skin seemed to her suddenly leathery.
 The morning that Toby looked scornfully at q picture on the So- ciety page of the paper and sneered, Beautiful young debu- tante. my eyel Who couldn't be beautiful with plenty of money?" Beatrice understood as she could not have done 0 month ago.
 But every time she played with the notion of going back home, she thought of Miss Danes hard enameled face and brusque voice She remembered the voice of that beast in MT. Weeming's office. She looked at MT. Bradley's straight, broad back, and Toby's vivid heart-shaped face. "They can't quit. If they can take 1t, I can!'
 Actually, It had been hardest dur ing the first week when she sat on the edge of the bathtub every night with her feet soaking in hot water and the small of her back threat ening to break In two Her first pay envelope fixed that. What thrill 1t had been!
 My own money! Money worked forl Every penny of it Is my own"
 She had torn the envelope open eagerly, counted the bills with an elation she had never eXperi- enced before. Almost, she had gloated over that pay envelope The small sum seemed more im- portant, suddenly, than all the thousands of dollars the paving tellers ct the trust company had handed her through their little wickets.
 This pay envelope was a symbol of achievement. A reward fol valor.
 T did stick with 1t, this whole week. This money is for my hurt ing feet; for smiling at customers for letting Miss Dane insult me This money means I'm worth something to Hunt!ngton's." She thought, too "When I spend one of these dollars, I'll be actually buying for the first time in my life"
 Reluctantly, she slowed the bills away in her bag. "There ought to be two kinds of money. Worked for-money, and the other sort Work.money should be 10 times as valuable as play-money,'
 She still slept on the lumpy couch in Toby and Veras apart ment. Don't move, Bee they had pleaded. With you here chipping in, we'll pay the rent or time
 Toby added, You'd only be moving back in a little while. Be cause you're gonna get canned, the way you're doing"
 For Beatrice was still hunting up dresses with good, simple lines and pushing them at customers hopefully. She was still handing out advice that directly contra dicted the kind of dresses that hung in rows on the racks - the dresses Miss Dane had bought Miss Dane's sharp eyes followed her with ever-increasing hostility and Miss Danes tight lips rapped out orders with undisguised dis like.
 "She can't fire me while I make my quota, every day"
 "Yeah, you're making it. The hard way. But Saturday, when you told that customer in the dressing room what constitutes the foundation of a good ward- robe, Miss Dane nearly choked."
 The customer however, had bought three basic dresses and proceeded to the accessories on the main floor to purchase belts, col- lars and some perky pins.
 Toby said, "When they start asking for you, Miss Dane will take it out on Getzie, watch"
 Getzie - Miss Getz was the middle aged woman with the care- fully dyed hair and the determined air of sprightliness who had been SO kind to Beatrice her first few days. Miss 0etz had taken Beatrice into the stockroom and explained. in great detail, how to locate every