Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 21, 1922 — page 57: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ALICE AWAKENS. ty shop that she was deserving of a posi- tion in their gown-making rooms. The salary was trifling, but that did not matter to Alice. She was there to study and work, with a definite goal in mind. This accomplished, she gave up her hotel room and took comfortable quarters in an up-town boarding-house. She meant to live upon her earnings as nearly as she could. Her income she wanted for other things, and the principal of her modest fortune was to be reserved for a future need which she had in view. : As the months slipped by she became an important figure in the Gailliard designing- rooms. By studying other women’s needs in the matter of style she succeeded in establishing one for herself. And while she was busy with Gailliard’s patrons.she was working out certain conceptions that were to be hers, and hers alone. The tailored things she conceived were smartly severe—not mannish—but unusual. It had taken the brutal frankness of those who had criticized her at home to awaken this latent talent. Her ability had been lying dormant. Her very diffidence held it in suppression. : She was now running on a new road. It opened up vistas of which she had never dreamed, even when she had plott#® her plan. The longer she went on with her work the more confidence she gained. Alice knew now that she could do the thing she wanted to do, and convinced of this, she be- gan to design things for herself. Barbaric! That was to be the keynote. She fashioned afternoon frocks and eve- ning gowns that were originally daring. Few women could have worn them, but they blended perfectly with the personality Alice was creating for herself. In the keen enjoyment of visualizing her- self wearing these things she did not neglect the business side of the bargain. At every opportunity she went into the show-rooms and by careful observation acquainted her- self with selling methods. Even her play was a part of the training she had allotted herself. Sunday was her one day of recreation. She spent most of it in the open air—get- ting up early to go to the public links, 47 cantering along Riverside Drive or in Cen- tral Park. During the week she spent two evenings at Columbia University, delving into sub- jects related to her work, taking courses in music and literature. On other nights she attended concerts at Carnegie Hall or went to see a worth while play. She had sent her new address to Hallie, and had received one or two rambling let- ters in reply. The other girls had written, too, and Alice had answered their questions evasively. She asked Marie to keep the hat she had admired, and begged Pauline to wear out the gown that had caught her fancy; but never a hint did she drop as to what she was really doing. To forestall any chance of their knowing, she had asked her quiet landlady to say to any chance callers that she did not know where Alice spent her days. Bobby Trueman telephoned one evening when Alice way at home, but she pleaded fatigue, and her manner was so cold and distant that he never rang her again. Spring drifted into summer, and Alice went abroad. It was a fleeting trip that gave her a glimpse of London and Paris for business reasons, and a look at Rome just for the love of its traditions. She came back to New York with a wealth of memories and a substantial redeemable balance of travelers’ checks. Her vacation, so called, was really noth- ing of the sort. It was a part of her edu- cation. She did it economically, as she did everything else—save one. Clothes were her extravagance. Poiret, Lanvin, and Jenny were com- missioned to carry out Alice’s ideas, and the trunks on which she paid heavy duty would have caused gasps of amazement from Hallie, Pauline, and Marie, just as Alice proposed that they should—a little later on. Back in New York Alice registered at the Plaza, and immediately let it be known throughout women’s wear selling circles that Mme. Alice had returned from Europe, and was prepared to receive the representatives of responsible firms who desired to sell her merchandise. comicloool C©