She went to work the next morning, having made up for sleep by a cup of strong coffee. Her employer had opened his shop and was now finishing the sweeping of his floor, a task which was to be hers from now on.
"I guess it won't hurt your dress," he said pleasantly.
Ellen did not catch the inner meaning of his remark.
"You might get a little something new once," suggested Mr. Goldstein. "Just a new waist, perhaps; it would improve you."
He showed Ellen where she was to stand.
"There by the window. I'll look after the back of the shop. The women have sure always the easy time, ain't it so?"
Ellen perched upon a high stool behind the counter and looked out at the passing throng of men and women from neighboring villages. She caught a man's wandering glance; he entered and offered a watch which needed attention. Having directed him to Mr. Goldstein, who carried his watch to the workroom at the rear, Ellen looked again toward the street. A second passer-by met her eye and came in, requesting a chain from the case before her. The chains were plainly labeled, a sale was soon consummated and Mr. Goldstein took the burden of making change. The first customer stopped to speak to her on his way out, but was interrupted by the arrival of a third.
"I'll be back when you're not so busy," he promised with reference—at least so she thought—to the purchase of a chain for his repaired watch.
There are a good many empty-minded men who turn aside at the glance of a pair of dark and straightforward eyes, but the supply is not inexhaustible. The middle of the morning brought a period of comparative idleness, when Mr. Goldstein joined the corps of workmen and Ellen sat with folded hands; at noon there was another season of activity followed by another period of idleness. During this period her heart suddenly jumped. What could she not accomplish in these hours! She brought with her the next morning her General History.