Do you remember Lady Patronesses' Day at the Cruelty, Mag? Remember how
the place smelt of cleaning ammonia on the bare floors? Remember the
black dresses we all wore, and the white aprons with the little bibs,
and the oily sweetness of the matron, and how our faces shone and
tingled from the soap and the rubbing? Remember it all?
Well, who'd 'a' thought then that Nance Olden ever would make use of
it--on the level, too!
Drop the Cruelty, and tell you about the stage? Why, it's bare boards
back there, bare as the Cruelty, but oh, there's something that you
don't see, but you feel it--something magic that makes you want to
pinch yourself to be sure you're awake. I go round there just doped
with it; my face, if you could see it, must look like Molly's kid's
when she is telling him fairy stories.