Faith looked at her in astonishment, her veins throbbing with indignation.

“She understood your little game that day of the fire, when you and Jim Denton were talking together!  He’s rich, Jim Denton is, and he’s mighty susceptible!  You ain’t such an innocent but what you found that out, and now he is meeting you on street corners and sending you candy!”

Faith had heard all she could bear, so she turned and walked slowly away.  She was so confused that for an hour or more she could hardly make out her checks properly.

The new packer was a girl about two years her junior, and as Faith handed up her goods she could not help thinking of Miss Jennings.

Poor Mary, with all her bitterness, had been a true, loyal friend.  She would have scorned to do a treacherous or dishonest action herself, yet she absolutely refused to condemn such conduct in others.

Faith remembered her plea for the thief, Lou Willis, and that led her finally on a new train of thought, so that she was able to almost forget her late conversation.

Several times during the day there were changes made in the department, and Miss Fairbanks was kept busy altering the prices on goods, especially on what were known as the “bargain counters.”

These counters were principally small tables standing here and there in the aisles, and during the rush hours they were always surrounded by customers.

Finally, to the surprise of the entire department, the tables, themselves, were removed, Mr. Denton coming down from his office to superintend the transaction.

“The fire company has warned him again, I guess,” whispered Miss Fairbanks to Faith.  “Well, that’s a hard one on Mag Brady; she was hired expressly for those bargains.”

“He will surely make a place for her elsewhere, will he not?” asked Faith.  “It would be dreadful if the poor girl should lose her work completely!”

“She deserves it,” said Cash Number 83, who was standing near. “’Tain’t as if she was stayin’ away ’cause she was sick!  She’s just on a spree along with some girls and fellers!”

“What gets me is how Mr. Forbes is taking all these changes.  He don’t seem to be saying a word,” continued Miss Fairbanks, without noticing the cash girl.

“Oh, he’s just saying nothing and sawing wood,” said Miss Jones, knowingly.  “He’s too foxy to quit the firm as old Pomposity did!  Probably he thinks it won’t last, and he’s willing to wait till it’s over.”

“Well, it will be a great deal safer here now without the tables,” said the buyer.  “If we have a fire now there won’t be so much crowding.”

“They say he’s doing this sort of thing all over the store,” said Mr. Gunning, who had just returned from helping with the tables.

“Then they tell me, too, that he’s having a lunch-room and restaurant for employees built on the sixth floor of the building.  All the goods that were stored there are being taken to the basement.”