Meggison, she confidently expected to find her dismissal in the
next pay envelope. It was not there; but, suddenly and without
warning, she was dragged out of Blouses and Neckwear and dumped into
Toys.
This was as great a surprise to Sadie Kirk and Earl Usher as to Win
herself. She dropped upon them as if she had fallen out of the sky--or
at least from the top floor. And nobody knew why: whether it was a
punishment or a reward. For Toys gave harder work for the hands
without a capital H than Blouses and Neckwear, even when Miss Stein
was badly "peeved." Also, Mr. Tobias, the floorwalker concerned with
the toy department was "a spalpeen and a pie-faced mutt from 'way
back," whereas Fred Thorpe was a well-known angel. Yet, on the other
hand, not only were more than half the toy assistants men, but many of
the customers also were men. This made the department more lively to
be in than Blouses, and some girls considered Toys next best to
Gloves.
It was almost like coming into a strange shop when Win arrived with
Sadie before eight o'clock in the morning for her first day in
Toyland, as Earl Usher facetiously named it. The December morning
hardly knew yet that it had been born, and though already there was
life in the Hands--fierce, active life--those pulsing white globes
which made artificial sunshine whatever the weather, had not yet begun
to glow like illuminated snowballs.
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