Anyway, she could dress in her best. There was no telling what might happen. So she started to change. She had to go down again to wash at the sink. There was no one in the kitchen, but as she was drying herself she heard Clem on the flags. She hid her shoulders with the towel, as a cape, and dashed for the door. He had just opened the outer door which she had shut. He grinned, and as she turned he caught the towel and gave it a tug. The corner nearest to him was dragged out of her clutch and fell down her back, but she ran on up the passage, hearing his laugh. After dressing she listened acutely, trying to decide whether he was still in the kitchen, but no sound came. She took a last look into the glass. Because she could not see the hem of her skirt she had to put the chair in front of the dressing-table and stand on it. She was satisfied and hoped that there would be someone nice to see her. She felt just as smart as the first time when she tried the costume on. She hadn’t had any money so far, but part of her things were paid for, anyway, and she wondered which part. She thought that it would be a good plan to decide each half-day, if she got them regular, what it was that she had worked for that week, and what she was going to work for in the next week. She decided that the first thing she would pay off would be the blouse, but how much of it was represented by the week—no, ten days—which she had already worked? Had she bought the front or the back, or only a sleeve, say? This was a problem she could not answer, and she frowned as she lifted her skirt to step down. She wished that she had been told how much each of the things had cost; all she knew was that Mrs. Howell had told her that she would have to work at least six months before she could expect to get more than a very little pocket-money. Flo frowned more as she thought going down the stairs. How nice it would be when she really began to earn and could send something home!
She was upset to find Clem leaning in the back doorway. He turned and said that if she was going into Moss he’d take her. He was going with the float.
“I’m not going into Moss; I’m going the other way,” said Flo.
She felt like turning back up the stairs, but she forced herself to walk on. As she stepped out he heaved his weight off the door post and went on with her.
“Got a date already, eh? You’ll get lost,”, he said in a teasing drawl.
She ignored him.
“Not coming?” he asked again, quizzingly, as they got to the float.