Mag and Margaret

The subject of all these calls that needed instant attention was a girl of thirteen, Mag Jessup, little maid of all work in the boardinghouse of Mrs. Perkins. There was a time in her life, when she was called Margaret. I think her mother used that name when she first looked at her. Once, when she was a little bit of a girl, and went to a free kindergarten for a few weeks, the sweet-faced teacher called her “Maggie.” But that was ever so long ago; centuries ago the thirteen-year-old girl thought. For years and years she had been called “Mag.” So long indeed that she had almost forgotten the other names. Mag Jessup was an orphan.