the hour of
eight until ten
Women were besieging a beehive of corsets and a hotbed of petticoats , reduced -LRB- so said huge red letters overhead -RRB- to one third of their original price . In less than five minutes Win had secured a costume with the right measurements , and for the two portions of which it consisted , had paid exactly one week 's salary . With an unwrapped parcel rolled under one arm , she battled her way back to the staircase she had descended -LRB- not daring to squeeze her unworthy body into a crowded elevator -RRB- , and toiled up to the eighth floor . There , she had been told , were dressing-rooms as well as lockers ; a rest room -LRB- converted into a schoolroom from the hour of eight until ten -RRB- , and the restaurant for women employees . Lightning change act first ! Black Effect to take the place of brown , a rush for the dressing-room , vague impression of near marble basins and rows of mirrors ; tall , slim girl in front of one , quite the proper `` saleslady '' air , in new , six-dollar black skirt and silk blouse lightened with sewed-in frills of white , fit not noticeably bad ; dash along corridor again for locker room , but sudden wavering pause at sight of confused group : half-fainting girl in black being handed over to capped and aproned nurse by two youths at an open door , glimpse of iron bedsteads etched in black against varnished white wall , door shut with slap ; youths marching light heartedly away , keeping time to the subdued whistle of `` Waiting for the Robert E. Lee . '' Girls sometimes faint here , then , before ten o'clock in the morning !