Another day had dawned upon The Paradise, another day of silks, and of buttons and ribbons and fine china that caught the reflections of the scores of customers that floated past. The counters had been dusted and the chandeliers polished, even the bronze of the door handles gleamed. For all of the preparations, however, most of the attention seemed to be focused outside of the store, as evidenced by the flock of uniformed shop girls gawking at something across the street.
"Girls! Girls! Whatever can be going on in the street that can be more important than your work here?" Miss Audrey glided into the foyer, a preturbed expression lighting across her face. She was never one to tolerate dawdlers, and now she seemed to be plagued by an antire host of them!
" 'Tisn't the street ma'am-" began Pauling until Clara cut her off. "Looks to me that Mr. Lovett has hired a shop girl of his own."
Miss Audrey only laughed as came up to the window behind them. "Oh nonsense girls. I'm sure Mr. Lovett would have mentioned-" Her voice caught in her throat as her eyes found the window of Mr. Lovett's dress shop across the way, and in that window a young, dark haired woman with her hair pinned high atop her head. She was measuring a roll of fabric, scissors in one hand and a mouthful of white tipped pins. She appeared deep in concentration, running her free hand across the fabric in the familiar manner that Miss Audrey had done so many countless times that she felt certain she could do it in her sleep.
"Well...I guess Mr. Lovett's business has picked up..." Miss Audrey looked at her little flock of whispering window ornaments for a certain head of blonde hair, but almost immediately dismissed that notion. Of course Denise wouldn't be here, peering through shop windows at her uncle.
"Come girls-we musn't dawdle when there are customers lining up at our doors!" Miss Audrey shooed the girls from the window, on the pretense that there was important work to be done, but in reality she was on the prowl.
"Has anyone seen Denise?" She would know something of the young woman busying herself in Edmund's shop, she was sure of it. The other girls scattered in a low hum, the gossip already slithering around the store before they had even met the young woman.
"I'll bet she's some dollymop that Mr. Lovett found and took pity on," Clara whispered.
"Dollymop? I've never seen one that looked like that before," Pauline whispered back.
"Perhaps we should go over there and invite her to go dancing tonight," Sam said excitedly.
"Let's not scare her off right out of the gate, please!" Clara hissed as she lightly smacked the back of Sam's head.
"Who should't we scare off?" The girls had a fright as they nearly ran right into Mr. Moray and Mr. Dudley as they were staring up the steps to ladieswear.
"Oh no one, sir. We were just talking about the new shop girl Mr. Lovett hired," Pauline answered as she clutched her breast and stared at her feet, barely able to get the words out without twisting her tongue to bits.
"Oh she's arrived already! Denise did mention something about her. What kind of girl does Edmund have over there, exactly?" He asked with a hint of a smile on his lips.
"You should see for yourself, Mr. Moray!" Sam called from him counter and pointed toward the window. Mr. Moray and Mr. Dudley made their way to the window, but when they peered out they saw no woman there, only Edmund rubbing his chin and draping the freshly cut fabric over a mannequin. It was no matter-he was sure they would meet her in due time, especially if Edmund had any say in the matter.
Dudley shot him a knowing look and spoke loud enough for everyone else to hear. "Well Moray, aren't you going to tell them?" The fluttering of whispers came to a halt as everyone turned their heads to Mr. Moray, who cleared his throat rather uncomfortably and returned Dudley's look with a particularly displeased one of his own. Dudley knew Moray wasn't one for gossip and secrets, and perhaps that why he had put him on the spot.
"What do you mean to tell us, Mr. Moray?" Miss Audrey asked, having heard everything as she was coming down the steps from her fruitless expedition to find Denise. She feared some calamity of mythic proportions had befallen The Paradise, and Mr. Moray was about to expell the horrendous news.
"Well, I'll tell you only because I can see your curiosity is getting the better of you," he said to the anxiously awaiting group. "Denise has spoken to me about this new shop girl..." Despite his best efforts he actually enjoyed seeing the waiting faces slowly creeping closer and closer, hanging on his every word. "Turns out, she is an American."
"An American?" A chorus of voices went up as the throng pressed even closer. An American? Just right across the street? "I've never seen one before!" Pauline exclaimed, "What are they like?"
"I heard they're selfish and wak around with their noses held too high in the air," Clara answered. She stuck her nose in the air and paraded around the counter, as everyone started to laugh.
"Actually, Clara...they're quite delightful," Moray said somewhat somberly, looking up the staircase just as Denise was coming down to see what all the laughter was about. He caught her eye and she smiled.
There was a collective gasp, and Clara offered him a shaky apology, mortified at what she had done. They never spoke of her, so it was natural that they would forget that Mr. Moray's late wife was American.
He smiled back at Denise as she reached the last stair, and without looking at Clara said, "No need for apologies, Clara."
Miss Audrey tried to diffuse the situation with a wave of her hand. "Alright ladies, the store opens in less than half an hour and there are still things to be done!"
Denise watched the workers move back to their counters and shot Moray an inquisitive look. "And what was that all about, Mr. Moray?"
He shook his head and gently brushed his hand against hers. "It seems your uncle's American protege is causing a bit of a stir amongst the staff."
"Don't worry, we won't let it distract us. My intention was to go welcome her this morning before the store opened, but it seems there is too much still to do-"
"You are quite right, my love," he said, "and we certainly don't want to seem rude when your uncle has shown us such kindess." Mr. Moray whipped around and patter Dudley on the back. "Dudley, you shall go over and welcome our newest guest to Tollgate Street. Invite her to come to The Paradise!"
Dudley looked at him quite queerly. "You're saying you want me to invite a rival's employee here, to the Paradise?"
"He's my uncle before he is a rival-and the poor girl has come from across the sea. I'm sure she could use a few friendly faces!" Moray slapped him once more on the back before he lead off with Denise in tow. She glanced quickly over her shoulder and mouthed, "Thank you" to Dudley.
Dudley only shook his head and chuckled to himself as he brushed a bit of lint off of his jacket. Moray was anything but predictable, and he figured his gesture leaned more towards his love and consideration of Denise than it did towards the "kindness" of Edmund.
No matter, he would do what was asked of him.
He took one last look across the way at Edmund Lovett's shop, hoping to catch a glimpse of this myserious American shop girl, but upon seeing no one at the window figured that now was just a good time as any to go visit.