"How much do you know about sewing?" she asked Polly abruptly one morning as she entered the girl's little attic and sat down on the foot of the bed.
"Why, I don't know," replied Polly doubtfully. "I can sew rather neatly by hand, and I can run a machine, but I don't know much about cutting and fitting."
Janet smiled; the latter fact was made so very obvious by the appearance of Polly's clothes.
"If you can put things together after they are cut out, and can run a machine, and do all that, I think I see our way clear to get some new togs for you, if you don't mind their not being bran-new."
Polly sprang to her feet. "What do you mean?"
"Why, just this: Louise Baker has just lost her brother, and is going into mourning. She isn't at all well off, but she has some pretty things, for her brother fitted her out for college, and she has made it known that she would be glad to dispose of some of her clothes. Ted and I were in there to see her this morning; we each relieved her of some of her white elephants, and she has more that she would be glad if some one would take off her hands. She was saying that she couldn't afford to pay for dressmaking, and wished she could get hold of some one who would help her with her sewing and take the pay in trade. She wants a black frock and a couple of shirt-waists right away. She has a pretty hat and a little tan jacket as good as new, besides a pale blue silk waist, and one or two other things. So, if you have any time to give her, now is your chance."
"Oh, Janet, of course I'll do it. I'll make time. If I could manage to get those things, all I would need would be a skirt and a pair of gloves."
"Perhaps there will be a way to get those, too. What number gloves do you wear?"
Polly stretched out her pretty little hand. "I prefer a six, though I can wear a five and three-quarters, on a pinch."
"Then I can do something for you. I have an unruly pair of light gloves that seem too small for me. I usually wear a six, but these are very crampy, and I cannot button them, so if you will take them off my hands, I shall be delighted. I offered them to Ted, but she has quite as large a fist as mine, so neither of us can struggle into them. I shall have to give them to some one else if you don't take them."