CHAPTER XII
THREE HATS
But Miss O’Flynn sent Patty a cup of hot bouillon, and some biscuit, which she ate right there at her work-table.
And it was a kindly act, for, though Patty didn’t realise it, she was really faint for want of food and also for fresh air.
The room, though large, had many occupants, and now the girls began to come back from their luncheon, and their chatter made Patty’s head ache.
But she was doing some deep thinking. Her theories about unskilled labour had received a hard blow; and she was beginning to think her millinery efforts were not going to be successful.
“But I’ve a chance yet,” she thought, as Miss O’Flynn came, bringing two hats, and a large box of handsome trimmings.
The other girls stared at this, for they knew that Patty’s morning efforts had been far from successful.
But Patty only smiled at them in a pleasant, but impersonal manner, as she took up her new work.
Her confidence returned. She knew she could do what she was now about to attempt, for, added to her natural taste and love of colour, she had been critically interested in hats while in Paris, and while visiting her friend, Lady Kitty, who was especially extravagant in her millinery purchases.