Quicksand - Chapters Six and Seven Summary

Helga goes job hunting. Although highly qualified to work in the library, she is rejected. Putting it off until she has very little money left, Helga finally visits the YWCA employment division, which places women with references as housekeepers. She is not qualified even for those jobs and searches for two weeks. She finally gets a note from the YWCA director telling her that she might get a job as a traveling companion to a lecturing female, who will pay her expenses plus twenty-five dollars in exchange for some help with her speeches.

Mrs. Hayes-Rore, Helg'a's future employer, is ill-dressed and harried, a board member for the YWCA. Helga wants this job, if only for the reference. The women at the YWCA tell Helga to join them for dinner, and they will tell...