"Very well, if you don't believe me, you needn't."
"Here, I say, what are you?" asked Miss Ewer. "Tell me, and then we'll know where we stand."
"Tell you what?"
"Are you a naughty girl or a straight girl?"
"What do you mean?"
"Straight girls is them as only takes presents like silk stockings an' gloves from the gentlemen, like them girls in 'Dawes'."
"Girls in 'Dawes'!" echoed Mavis.
"They do a lot of 'arm; but yet you can't blame 'em: gentlemen will pay for anything rather than plank money down to them naughty girls as live by it."
"While I'm here, do you mind talking about something else?" asked Mavis angrily.
"I 'ave it. I 'ave it," cried Miss Ewer triumphantly. "You're one of the lucky ones. You're kep'."