It was almost one o’clock when she finished, and looked up suddenly to see Miss O’Flynn standing watching her.
“Why are you doing this?” she said to Patty, as she took the hat from the girl’s hands.
Patty sat up, all at once, conscious of great pain in the back of her neck, from her continued cramped position at work.
“Because I want to earn money,” replied Patty, not pertly, but in a tone of obstinate intent. “Is it done right?”
Miss O’Flynn looked at Patty, with an air of kindliness and willingness to help her.
“Tell me all about it,” she said.
But Patty was in no mood for confidences, and with a shade of hauteur in her manner, she said again: “Is it done right? Does it suit you?”
At Patty’s rejection of her advances, Miss O’Flynn also became reserved again, and said, simply: “I cannot use it.”
“Why not?” demanded Patty. “It is covered smoothly and neatly. It shows no crease nor fold.”
“It is not right,” said Miss O’Flynn. “It is not done right, because you do not know how to do it. You have never been taught how to cover hats or how to line them; consequently you cannot do them right.”