The
thought embittered her; she quickened her steps in order to leave
behind her the opulent surroundings so different from her own, A
little crowd, consisting of those entering and waiting about the
door of a tea-shop, obstructed her. An idea suddenly possessed her.
Confronted with want, she wondered if she had enough money to snatch
a brief half-hour's respite from her troubles. She looked in her
purse, to find it contained three shillings. The next moment, she
was moving in the direction of the tea-room, her habitual husbandry
making a poor fight against the over-mastering desire possessing
her.
She walked up a steep, narrow flight of carpeted stairs; this
terminated in a long, low room, the walls of which were of black
oak, and which was nearly filled with a gaily dressed crowd of men
and women. The sensuous music of a string band fell on her ear; the
smell of tea and the indefinable odour of women were borne to her
nostrils. A card was put in her hand, telling her that a palmist
could be consulted on the next floor. In and out among the tables,
attendants, clad in the garb of sixteenth century Flemish peasant
women, moved noiselessly.
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