Sally raised her eyes, and in so doing forgot her work. As she automatically placed the metal in line with the wheel, she held her fingers there without thinking. Another instant and they would have been mangled.
Horrified, Penny saw what was about to happen.
"Sally!" she cried. Acting instinctively, she reached and jerked the girl's hand away from the swift turning machinery. The wheel had missed Sally's fingers by a mere fraction of an inch.
The foreman came running again, obviously annoyed. Shutting off the machine, he demanded to know what was wrong.
Sally leaned her head weakly on the table, trying to regain composure. Her face was drained of color and she trembled as from a chill. "Thanks," she said brokenly to Penny. "I--I don't know what's the matter with me tonight. I'm not coordinated right."
"Go take a walk," the foreman advised, not unkindly. "A nice long walk. Get a drink or something. You'll be okay."
"I'll never learn," Sally said in a choked voice.
"Sure, you will. Everyone has to go through a beginner's stage. Get yourself a drink. Then you'll feel better."
"Let me go with you," Penny said, taking Sally by the arm.
Without conversation, they made their way between the long rows of machines to the locker room. There Sally sank down on a bench, burying her face in her hands.
"I'm nervous and upset tonight," she excused herself. "I can't seem to get the hang of machine work."
"Why not give it up? Do you really need the money so badly?"
"No," Sally admitted truthfully. "I've set my heart on a college education, but Pop could raise the money somehow. It's just that he's had financial troubles the past year, and I wanted to help out."
"Some persons aren't cut out to be factory workers," Penny resumed. "Do you realize that you nearly lost several of your fingers tonight?"
"Yes," Sally agreed, her freckled face becoming deadly sober. "I'll always be grateful to you. What Mr. Gandiss said in his office upset me. I wasn't thinking of my work."
"I thought that might be it. Well, forget the entire matter if you can."
Sally nodded and getting up, drank at the fountain. "I'll have to go back to work now," she said with an effort. "First, I'll get myself a clean hanky."
With a key which she wore on a string about her neck, the girl opened her locker. On the floor lay a leather jacket that had fallen from its hook.
As Sally picked it up, a heavy object slipped from one of the pockets, thudding against the tin of the locker floor.
She stooped quickly to retrieve it, and then, embarrassed, tried to shield the article from view. But she could not hide it from Penny who stood directly behind. The object that had fallen from the jacket was a small coupling of brass!
