Page:Diamonds To Sit On.pdf/155

 LITTLE ELLA

143

(14) Your back is all white (a joke). (15) Fancy that ! (16) The suffix ‘ -kin ’ (used for its caressing quality, e.g. Peterkin, Sashkin). (17) Oho ! (sarcasm, surprise, delight, hatred, joy, scorn, and satisfaction). (18) You’re joking ! If you were to examine the photographs of Ella which hung over her husband’s bed, one full face and the other profile, you would see a pleasant high fore­ head, large shining eyes, the sweetest httle nose, and a chin with a little brown mole on it. Ella was pretty, and her height flattered men. She was small, and even the smallest man felt tall and powerful by her side. The two hundred roubles which was her husband’s monthly salary at the ‘ Electrolustre ’ factory was an insult to EUa. It was totally inadequate in her struggle to try to make ends meet, for she was very extravagant; and this life had been going on for four years. To try to help matters, her husband, Ernest Pavlovich Shchukin used to bring work home with him from the office. They gave up having a servant and they had a ‘ Primus ’ stove. He would empty the rubbish into the dustbin and fry his own cutlets. But it did not help, for Ella was always buying crSpe de Chine blouses and other fineries. One morning a friend of hers brought in a fashion journal in which a photograph caught her eye. It was a photograph of the American millionaire’s daughter. Miss Vanderbilt, taken in evening dress. She was wearing furs and feathers, silk and pearls ; her dress was wonderfully designed, and her hair was most beautifully dressed. ‘ Oho ! ’ said Ella to herself, and made up her mind to be like the American. She imitated her by buying an evening frock and by having her hair well dressed. Then she decided she must be in the fashion and have