“Why, the buyer. We sell these to the shops; they sell them to people who use this finished corner as a guide to do the rest of the piece. Can’t you understand?”
“Yes, I can, now that you explain it,” returned Patty. “Then if I take a dozen, I’m to work just that little corner on each one; is that it?”
“That’s it,” said the woman, wearily, as if she were making the explanation for the thousandth time,—as she probably was.
“You can take this as a guide for yourself,” she went on, a little more kindly, “and here’s the silks. Did you say a dozen?”
“Wait a minute,” said Patty; “how much do you pay?”
“Five dollars.”
“Apiece, I suppose. Yes, I’ll take a dozen.” The woman gave a hard little laugh.
“Five dollars apiece!” she said. “Not much! We pay five dollars a dozen.”
“A dozen? Five dollars for all that work! Why, each of those corners is as much work as a whole doily.”
“Yes, just about; do you work fast?”