Kitty came home at nine that night, dreadfully tired. She had that day
been rocked by so many emotions. She had viewed the parade from the
windows of a theatrical agency, and she had cheered and cried like
everybody else. Her eyes still smarted, and her throat betrayed her
every time she recalled what she had seen. Those boys!

Loneliness. She had dined downtown, and on the way home the shadow had
stalked beside her. Loneliness. Never before had these rooms seemed so
empty, empty. If God had only given her a brother and he had marched in
that glorious parade, what fun they two would be having at this moment!
Empty rooms; not even a pet.

Loneliness. She had been a silly little fool to stand so aloof, just
because she was poor and lived in a faded locality. She mocked herself.
Poor but proud, like the shopgirl in the movies. Denied herself
companionship because she was ashamed of her genteel poverty. And now
she was paying for it. Silly little fool! It wasn't as if she did not
know how to make and keep friends. She knew she had attractions. Just a
senseless false pride. The best friends in the world, after a series of
rebuffs, would drop away. Her mother's friends never called any more,
because of her aloofness. She had only a few girl friends, and even
these no doubt were beginning to think her uppish.