The phone is ringing when Mandy finally gets home to her apartment.
"Magdalena? Where were you? I've been calling for hours."
Right, her mother always calls Tuesdays, at six exactly. "Sorry, Mamãe, just tied up at work."
"Tied up?"
"Busy, Mamãe, ocupada."
"Always working—when are you going to settle down? You meet any nice men at that insurance office?"
Mandy recalls Gervaise's practiced gallantry, banishes the thought.
"My work is very important. Today I saved…" careful Mandy! "…the company a lot of money. There was a bad…" misunderstanding "…mistranslation, but I did some overtime and we worked everything out…"