Ida opened the door with a jerk.
"There!" she cried, angrily. "I don't see why I could not stay alone in my room until I looked fit to be seen!"
Mrs. Marvin thought the raw, scarlet face denoted some desperate illness, but chancing to look toward the dresser, she caught sight of the bottle, uncorked, and with its showy label bearing the legend:
"Tonic. Twelve-Hour Beautifier."
Mrs. Marvin sat down upon a low seat, and drew Ida down beside her, and patiently she listened to the story of the longing for beauty, the reading of the advertisement.
"I s'pose I put on too much," Ida concluded. "They said, 'Just a bit on the tip of the fingers rubbed into the skin each night for two weeks would work wonders.
"They said used generously you'd be surprised at the result! I guess I was.
"I thought if a little would do so much, a lot of it would do more, so I put it on thick, and went to bed.
"O dear! It has been a comfort to tell you, but I can't face those girls while I look like this!"
"I shall not ask you to," Mrs. Marvin said. "I will bring you some cooling ointment to heal your face, and I'll send old Judy up with your meals.