“You’re beautiful!” Judy exclaimed. “That dress fits in with your complexion as though you were part of a picture. You’re prettier than Lois or Honey or Lorraine. Don’t you think so, Pauline?”
She admitted it.
“Prettier than Lorraine?” Irene repeated wonderingly. Lorraine Lee had always considered herself the prettiest girl in Farringdon and dressed accordingly, while Irene’s faded blues and browns had never flattered her. But in the new yellow dress she was transformed. There was a tiny jacket to go with it, also of yellow but more delicately golden, matching slippers and, in the very bottom of the box, a gold locket. Irene, delighting in her own recklessness, wore them all the next morning.
CHAPTER VII
EMILY GRIMSHAW SEES THINGS
Emily Grimshaw often came in late, but as Judy had her own key this affected her work very little. In fact, she usually accomplished more when alone. Thus she was not surprised to find the office vacant when she and Irene arrived.
“It’s every bit as queer as you said it was,” Irene whispered as they unlocked the door and she examined the brass knocker. “She must trust you, Judy.” She smiled into her friend’s honest gray eyes. “And who wouldn’t?”
The girls seated themselves at either end of the long sofa in Emily Grimshaw’s office. With the pile of handwritten poetry between them it was easier to help each other decide into which group certain verses belonged.
“Some of them are rather horrible,” Judy remarked as she hunted through the pile. “I’ll sort out the worst ones, and you can read the others.”