CHAPTER SEVENTEEN B: THE CUSTOMER WHO KNEW HER FATHER
The first difficult customer arrived on Selena’s third day.
Mrs. Harcourt, a wealthy widow from the neighboring parish, entered the workroom carrying a velvet cloak with a torn clasp.
She stopped when she recognized Selena.
“Miss Montley?”
Selena rose from her stool.
“Good morning, Mrs. Harcourt.”
The widow examined the room as though she had wandered into a stable by mistake.
“Surely you are not employed here.”
“I am working on a trial basis.”
“Your father must be beside himself.”
“He has expressed his opinion.”
Mrs. Harcourt set the cloak on the table.
“Then perhaps I ought to take this elsewhere.”
Mrs. Elkin approached from the cutting room.
“You may do so if you wish, madam.”
“I did not come here to be instructed by a young lady playing at poverty.”
Selena felt the insult land among the women who had worked for years to support their families.
“I am not playing at anything,” she said.
“And Mrs. Elkin has been repairing your clothes since before I learned to hold a needle.”
Mrs. Harcourt lifted her chin.
“You have become very bold.”
“I have become employed,” Selena answered.
“The two are not the same.
”
Mrs. Elkin folded the velvet cloak and offered it back.
“If you would prefer another establishment, I shall not delay you.”
The widow looked at the torn clasp, then at the rain beginning beyond the windows.
“How long would the repair take?”
“An hour,” Mrs. Elkin replied.
“Two if you continue insulting my workers.”
Alice made a choking sound behind her sewing table.
Mrs. Harcourt sat down and waited in offended silence.
When the repair was finished, she inspected it closely and paid the stated price.
She did not apologize.
After she left, Selena sank onto her stool.
“I fear I have lost us a customer.
”
Mrs. Elkin shook her head.
“You have learned that some customers return even after being told no.”
“And if she does not?”
“Then we shall mend someone else’s cloak.”
Selena looked around the room and realized that the women were smiling at her, not because she had impressed a duchess, but because she had defended their work.
