The market place was, of course, packed beyond all reason. With the many people, horses, and carriages that were on the street there was hardly any place to walk. Even walking could prove to be precarious since there was hardly any warning when the person in front of them would stop to look at a booth, or when someone would come walking out of a shop in a hurry without looking. Instinctively Gregory kept Josie close to him, partly out of an ingrained gentlemanly habit and partly because being near someone he knew lessened his anxiety about being near so many different people.
As they walked many men would tip their hats to him. He suddenly realized he had forgotten his own hat which was a severe social faux pas. It made him cringe further into his scarf, not that he really cared if he was acknowledged by others; mostly he hated the fact that it would draw him unwanted attention.
He huddled against his scarf and looked over at Josie; she must have seen him looking at her because she turned and smiled at him. He looked away suddenly feeling shy again. As they kept walking he was starting to wonder where they were going; Josie had stopped and looked at several shop stands but only in passing, then walked one. Gregory was about to ask when Josie stopped and pointed at a small bookstore; she took his hand and they went inside and Violet was immediately overtaken with the silence of the shop and the smell of books. It was a breath of fresh air after the busy street. He felt more relaxed now that he was out from the glare of so many strangers.
As soon as the door closed behind them he felt immediately more at ease then he had been on the street; and luckily the place was almost deserted. Besides a customer at the back of the store perusing what looked to be medieval literature there was only the keeper of the shop. He was an older gentleman but not yet in his twilight years; he was perhaps around sixty years old with a fine mane of white hair interspersed with grey; and he wore a small set of spectacles. The man smiled broadly as he saw who entered; and he came from behind the desk and delicately kissed Josie's hand in greeting.
"Ah! My dear girl good afternoon to you! I'm sorry I have not seen you in so long; I had not seen you since the funeral," the older gentleman grimaced then as if he had perhaps committed a faux pas by mentioning her father's funeral.
Josie gave a small smile and nodded, "It has not been that long, I was free today from my work and I wanted to come and collect the books that I had ordered; I simply forgot about them till now." She gave a small apologetic smile.
The man waved his hand as if to say there was no harm done, and then took immediate notice of Gregory. He turned to face the younger man and smiled broadly. He held out his hand and waited for Gregory to shake it, and he did not wanting to be rude to the man that seemed to be a friend of Josie's father.
"And good afternoon to you young sir, forgive my being impolite, I did not mean to ignore you in front of the young lady, may I have the pleasure of knowing your name?" He said apologetically as he gave Violet's hand a steady shake.
Gregory shrugged; he had not minded after all, "Please think nothing of it. My name is Gregory Violet," He replied, taking the opportunity to look around the shop. It was bigger than what he had expected; but it was not a higher end book store. It was one his parents would probably never enter but one that he could get lost in for hours if no one came looking for him. It even seemed to have some exotic books written in a language he could not decipher; but he presumed it was some sort of oriental language or perhaps even Arabic. He wondered who in London was fluent enough in these languages to buy them.
"You have a lovely store here sir," He said quietly as the shop keeper saw him looking around. Remembering to be polite in front of others was certainly a chore for the otherwise introverted Gregory Violet.
The shop keeper smiled graciously and gave something of a small bow, "Thank you young sir, it's not much, but it's everything to me." He kept smiling then his smile faltered, "And you must forgive me again I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Reginald Till and I am the owner and manager of this fine book shop."
"The fault is all mine Mr. Till, it slipped my mind to introduce my friend to you when we entered the shop." Josie explained as she looked sheepishly at Gregory as she said it, her expression looked so apologetic that Gregory felt himself smile at the girl. Her face was, dare he think it, actually cute.
He shook his head and looked down, even now with two people looking at him it proved to be too much attention for him. Suddenly Mr. Till clapped his hands enthusiastically and it brought Gregory's attention back to him.
"Oh yes I remember why you are my dear," He said and ducked back behind the counter, bent down to retrieve something and came back with three decently sized leater bound books. One of them was a very attractive purple leather bound book that immediately caught his attention simply because of the color. Josie walked daintily over and lifted each book off the counter and examined them.
Gregory walked over as well and looked over her shoulder. The first was a black and simple design that was titled "Britain and Its History." The next was a dark red leather tome that was called "Mythologies of the World." And lastly the lovely purple leather book which was by far the largest and had a title that greatly intrigued him, "Art of the Orient." It was scrawled in a fine gold print with a kind of spiraling art work in gold that adorned its cover.
She must have sensed his eagerness to look at it because Josie turned around and handed it to him with a smile; it was heavier than what he thought. He took it eagerly and set it on the counter, feeling the intricate design of the book cover before he opened it to see inside. There were chapters of course, each one detailing art from the oriental countries such as India, and China and even Japan. And there were color pictures! Each one done in a fine and careful detail and in vibrant colors. It was beautiful enough to almost bring a tear to his eye.
He finally noticed that Josie and Mr. Till were watching him with an amused expression and carefully closed the book feeling embarrassed. But Mr. Till gave a good natured laugh. "I could tell the young man and had artistic flair from the moment he walked into the store." He winked at Gregory and he ducked his head.
Josie lightly touched his arm with her fingertips, "He is the greatest artist at the school, he is even head of the Violet dorm." She said with a bit of pride in her voice that Gregory did not miss, it even made him feel happy that she could feel proud of him.
Mr. Till raised an eyebrow at this looking genuinely impressed. Gregory was not sure how much more attention he could take before he buried his face back into the scarf. Josie picked up the books and neatly stacked them in her basket before turning back to Mr. Till.
"My father had paid for these correct? Before his death I mean…," She asked softly and Reginald immediately turned somber at the mention of her late father.
"Yes my dear he did, it was to be a gift for you but they had not arrived till last week," He looked apologetically at the girl and took her hand, placing a gentle one on top as a sign of comfort. Gregory looked at the hand and realized that perhaps he should be doing that for Josie instead of a book shop owner.
Suddenly Mr. Till looked thoughtful and went back to the counter and came back with a small slip of paper. There was a name written on it and Josie looked at it carefully. "What is this Mr. Till?" She asked curiously.
The book keeper looked at it just as curiously, "A man came in about the same time as these books and asked if I knew anything about you, he said his name was William Waite and that he was an old business partner of your fathers."
Josie looked just as confused as before but tucked the slip of paper, which also had an address written on it, into the purple book. "My father had many business partners but I'm not sure I know of a Mr. Waite. Perhaps he simply wants to pay his respects? But if that is the case how did he know to come to you?" She asked.
"Well, you might not remember but I was business partners with your father way back when, but I bought out his share of this fine bookstore before you were even a year old." He stated looking nostalgic. "I can only assume that he must have mentioned me to this gentleman at some point.
Josie smiled and nodded. "I had completely forgot about that Mr. Till. But for now I must go back, but thank you for the books I will enjoy reading them greatly."
He smiled warmly at her as if she were his own daughter. "Think nothing of it my dear it has and always will be my pleasure." He waved goodbye to them both and they began to walk out the door into the street, but before they left Gregory gently took the basket filled with the books from Josie, giving her a smile as he did so. A gentleman did carry a ladies books after all he thought to himself.