“Debating clubs do that for one, at any rate,” went on the girl, unheeding. “They take away all fear of one’s own voice. But I haven’t gone in for them much, because, of course, that sort of thing is not required in my profession.”
This time she was more successful in moving her audience. Emily said eagerly—“Your profession? Oh, Claudia, this is very interesting! What is it?”
“I am a landscape gardener. Didn’t you know that I had been studying at the college?”
“Yes, but we thought—well, we did not realise that you were actually working there.” She assured them that this had been the case, keenly enjoying their surprise. Philippa, however, asked at once—
“Well, but the result, the outcome? Shall you practice?”
“Certainly.”
“And take pay?”
“If I did not, I should have no right to enter the market at all. I go into the ranks, to be treated exactly like the others.”
“Only what is play to you is living to them,” remarked Philippa. “You can never place yourself on the same footing. However, as Emily says, this is interesting. Had you a particular fondness for gardening?” Claudia could not say that she had. “But one had to choose something. I could not have been idle. I did think of shop-dressing.”
“Shop-dressing?”