Mabel thought that Charles Burt and Rose Shaw were chatting together by the fireplace and laughing at her. She could not hear them, but this was her imagination and inferiority complex which made her think so. Mabel even felt that poor Mrs. Holman was laughing at her dress, and that she would tell everyone about it. Mrs. Holman had so many of her own problems that she probably never even thought of it, but Mabel’s lack of confidence made her feel so.