The special city reader at the Model Press Clipping Bureau, where Francie works as a file clerk. Miss Armstrong is the highest paid file clerk. She is also kind and tries to befriend Francie, who has no friends among the other clerks. There is a rumor around the office that Miss Armstrong is the boss’s mistress, which Francie learns to be true when her boss says that Miss Armstrong is leaving the office to marry him. When Miss Armstrong leaves the office—she insists that a woman should not work after marriage—she recommends that Francie take over her job as the city reader. Miss Armstrong briefly returns to the job during the First World War, after her husband loses most of his readers to the Civil Service and lays off those who remain, before he closes the bureau down altogether.