"But, Peggy!" Elaine expostulated, "don't you see I can't go on with this if people are going to look down on me and despise me? I don't mind how hard I work, but this--"
Something in Peggy's look halted her mid-way in the sentence. The other girl's eyes were ablaze.
"Elaine, see here. Why did you apply for that position in the first place?"
"Why, I needed the money, Peggy."
"You didn't do it on the spur of the moment, did you? You thought about it, and made up your mind that it was the right thing to do?"
"Why, ye-es--" Elaine hesitated, feeling a little suspicious that she was walking into a trap.
"You're the same Elaine to-night that you were yesterday, aren't you? You haven't been spoiled, by spending a day in Uncle John's office. Is there any reason why anybody should like you less or respect you less?"
"Of course not, Peggy. It's only the way people feel about such things."
Peggy did not mean to stop till she had spoken her mind. "You're ready to give up doing something you're sure is right and sensible because of what people think. You know they're wrong. You know such prejudices are silly and mistaken and yet you haven't got the courage to fight them."
"I don't know who would be brave enough for that," Elaine said dejectedly.