The Shop Girls of Harpers

by Rosie Clarke

  A little frown touched her brow because she’d learned to be cautious where men were concerned and she knew it wouldn’t do to admire her employer too much. Jenni was straightforward and meant it when she said she wanted them to be friends – but was it ever possible for a woman to be friends with a man? Sally knew it would be easy to lose her head over someone like Mr Harper.

  Something drew her to her window and she looked down into the lane. Mr Harper’s car had gone but Mick was standing outside the pub, looking up at her window. With the light behind her, he could see her and she drew back, letting the net curtain fall back into place and drawing the heavy cotton ones behind it. Mick had obviously seen her arrive. Was he thinking she’d been out with her fancy man?

  Sally waved and decided that she would tell him about her new job the next time she saw him. She didn’t want Mick to get the wrong idea. Sally might like being given a special meal out and offered a job with a much better wage, but she wasn’t daft enough to lose her head over a man the way Sylvia had, even out of gratitude…

  17

  ‘How did things go?’ Mrs Craven asked Sally when she entered the department the next morning. ‘Did you take the new position? I really hope so, because I think it will suit you, though I should not wish for the responsibility. At my age, I couldn’t stand the extra hours…’

  Sally smiled. Mrs Craven was making a joke to let Sally know she didn’t resent her getting the promotion.

  ‘Yes. I’ve just come in to sign off my stock book and then I’m going upstairs to Miss Harper’s office.’

  ‘She’s not going straight back then?’

  ‘Miss Harper considers it more important that I should learn from her,’ Sally said. ‘She has done it as a favour to her brother – but it was because I spoke out the way I did about the jewellery and things. I just hope I don’t let them both down.’

  ‘You won’t do that, Miss Ross.’ Mrs Craven smiled. ‘I shall miss you. I don’t know if they will replace you in the department…’

  ‘Jenni said she would speak to you about that,’ Sally hesitated, then, ‘I think Maggie could take over Beth’s counter and you could take over my counter…’

  ‘And leave the hats to Miss Grey?’ Mrs Craven nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes, that is what I have been thinking, Miss Ross – your counter is the one that needs the most experience and Miss Gibbs is more confident now.’

  ‘We don’t really need a junior if we keep our own counters tidy, except perhaps on Saturday…’ Sally stopped and blushed. ‘I’m sorry. I’m not trying to tell you how to run the department, Mrs Craven. It sounds as if I’m getting too big for my boots, but really I’m not.’

  ‘Not at all, Miss Ross,’ she said. ‘I have thought there could be more efficiency in the whole store and I shall tell Mr Harper of our ideas. After all, it isn’t just sales that make a store a success; if money is wasted it will fail anyway.’

  Sally nodded. ‘I am going to find somewhere better to live – perhaps a small apartment. I’d like to share but…’ She left the words unsaid because it seemed like cheek to ask her supervisor if she would like to share with her.

  ‘You are wondering if we might share a flat?’ Mrs Craven hesitated and then nodded. ‘I think it might work now that you have been promoted. I have considered it for myself, but an apartment for just one is expensive… we might visit a few together and see how we feel…’

  Sally felt a rush of pleasure. ‘I’d love that,’ she said eagerly. ‘Thank you for considering it, Mrs Craven.’

  ‘At work it must continue to be Mrs Craven and Miss Ross, but in private you could call me Rachel if you wish.’

  ‘Thank you, yes, I shall,’ Sally told her, glowing. ‘I can’t believe I’ve been so lucky…’

  ‘No, I think you have the potential,’ Rachel said seriously. ‘I knew from the first that you were different. You will do well – and I wish you all the luck in the world.’

  ‘I shall visit the departments regularly,’ Sally said. ‘It’s why Jenni gave me the job, because she can’t be here all the time and she says a buyer needs to know all the merchandise, what is selling and what is not…’

  ‘Yes, she is right; I believe it’s the only way,’ Rachel said. ‘You’d best get off then and I’ll tell Miss Grey and Miss Gibbs of their new positions…’

  Sally left the department and went to the lift to take her to the office on the top floor, but just as she approached, it opened and Mr Harper walked out with a beautiful red-haired woman on his arm. He was smiling at her, and she was gazing into his eyes – neither of them noticed Sally.

  ‘You’re a wonderful guy, Ben Harper,’ the woman gushed. ‘You’ve made my trip to London so great, I can’t tell you…’

  ‘It was my privilege, Selina,’ he murmured. ‘I have enjoyed being with you…’

  He’d had a blonde on his arm on opening day and now a redhead! Mr Harper obviously liked to play the field.

  Sally laughed inwardly. She’d been thinking he might be interested in her, but now she knew it was highly unlikely. The woman with him looked rich, was obviously American and laughed a lot in a loud way.

  It was strange that she looked so out of place in the store where Mr Harper and his sister seemed to blend in. Yes, they had slight accents and some of the words they used were pronounced differently, but they were neither brash nor arrogant and the gulf between them and this woman struck Sally immediately. She smiled at herself as she went on into the lift. That would teach her not to get ideas above her station!

  ‘I think it’s wonderful that you’ve been given the job,’ Beth said and smiled warmly at Sally as she went to wish her well during her tea break. ‘We shall all miss you and hope to see you sometimes.’

  ‘I’ll be around,’ Sally said. ‘You three are still my friends and I want to keep in touch. At least I shan’t have to worry about Miss Hart picking on me after this promotion. I’m actually above her in the scale now. Just be careful she doesn’t pick on you and Maggie instead.’

  ‘She won’t like you being above her,’ Beth warned. ‘I’d still be careful of her, if I were you, Sally.’

  ‘She doesn’t worry me,’ Sally said. ‘Maybe we’ll have a little get-together one day. I’m going to find a small flat and you could visit on a Sunday for tea.’

  ‘Oh yes, I’d love that, if I could manage to get away,’ Beth said. ‘I wish you lots of luck and I’ll miss you.’ Leaving Sally to her new job, Beth returned to the department.

  Beth felt a little strange to see Maggie at her counter, but like Sally she believed that the younger girl was capable of managing it alone. She herself was happy to have the hats, because some of them were so beautiful it was a joy to handle them.

  She served her first customer at a little after nine and sold two sensible felt hats – a brown with a feather and a grey with a smart bow at the back. The customer had asked her to model the grey one so that she could see the back and had been pleased with the effect.

  ‘You can’t really see it on yourself, even with the mirrors,’ she’d told Beth. ‘I’m starting a new job and I want to look smart but not fussy – and those hats are just right.’

  After she’d left, Beth saw that Maggie was selling a scarf and Mrs Craven was wrapping a leather bag. She decided to update her stock book and then went to the little room at the back and brought out two new felt hats, neither of which had been on display before, adding them to the list.

  It was an hour before she had another customer, although both Maggie and Mrs Craven were busy. Beth rearranged some hats in the counter and sighed, wondering how Sally was getting on in her new job. She’d made it sound both nerve-wracking and exciting and Beth envied her a little. It must be exciting to take on such a challenging job, though, on reflection, Beth didn’t really wish to be in Sally’s shoes.

  At eleven o’clock, she had three customers on the trot and then Mrs Craven told her to take an early lunch. ‘Two of us need to be in the department all the time, which m
eans that Miss Gibbs will take her time off next and me last. I’m sorry I cannot let you go together, but one isn’t enough to run this department.’

  ‘No, that would be awkward, customers might be waiting for a while,’ Beth agreed. She’d thought four of them excessive for a department of this size, but less staff might make things difficult during holiday times or when someone was ill.

  ‘I shall have to talk to Mr Stockbridge about relief staff,’ Mrs Craven said. ‘We don’t always need a junior, but if you were ill or I perhaps, it could make things difficult.’

  Beth agreed and left to have her lunch. She’d brought a cheese sandwich and some rock buns and thought she would go down to the basement and have a word with Fred. He would make a pot of tea and share it with her and she would give him a couple of her rock buns. Beth found it pleasant to sit and talk to Fred about his life and his family rather than go out to a busy café where she hardly got time to eat before she had to get back to the store.

  His face lit up with a big smile when he saw her and he immediately put the kettle on. Fred had his own sandwiches, but he didn’t say no when she offered him the rock buns and she noticed that he ate one immediately with his first mug of tea.

  ‘How are things with you today, Fred?’

  ‘I’ve been rushed off me feet,’ he said. ‘I had a load of new stock for the men’s department. I’ve been up there three times – and I’ve brought some of those fancy suits back down.’

  ‘What will happen to them?’ Beth asked, curious now.

  ‘I think Miss Harper is shipping them back to the States, leastwise that’s what she told me. She’s leaving the rest, but these are special and she says they will sell like hot cakes where she comes from.’

  ‘They must be richer in New York than we are.’

  ‘Right, I reckon some of ’em are drownin’ in it,’ Fred said and cackled with laughter. ‘That’s why my eldest boy is off to the States shortly…’ He looked at her proudly. ‘He’s been offered a job on that fancy ship – the Titanic. Have yer heard of it, miss?’

  ‘Yes, I have,’ Beth said and smiled at his obvious pride. ‘What does your eldest boy do, Fred?’

  ‘Jack is a steward with the White Star Line,’ Fred said proudly. ‘That’s a good job. When I was his age, I was running messages until I worked my way through teaching college – I just hope we don’t get any wars to mess things up.’

  ‘Your son wouldn’t leave a good job to volunteer, would he?’

  ‘Not Jack, no, he’s got a head on his shoulders. I was thinking of young Timmy – he’s just seventeen and all he can think of is that he wants to be a soldier.’

  ‘Well, that’s a good job too, and we’re not at war anywhere at the moment, are we?’

  ‘No, not that I know of,’ Fred admitted. ‘But I’ve friends who fought in the Boer War and there’s always a chance of a flare-up abroad somewhere – in India or one of the colonies. Tim will be off to sign for King and country as soon as he’s eighteen and then I’ll be on me own again…’

  Beth nodded sympathetically, and for a moment she remembered having an odd dream about war, probably brought on by Fred’s tales about his service. She knew that his wife had died some years back and he was often lonely because his sons had busy lives of their own. She also knew that the reason he’d been dismissed as a schoolmaster was because he’d disagreed with the governors over caning boys. Fred wouldn’t have it in his school and so he’d quarrelled with an influential man and been asked to leave.

  ‘I’ll come and see you sometimes,’ Beth promised. She made a mental note to ask Aunt Helen if she could have him for tea on a Sunday. Her aunt might refuse, so she wouldn’t mention it yet. ‘I miss my father, Fred. Did I tell you he was a doctor?’

  ‘That you did, miss,’ Fred said and smiled at her. ‘You’ll make some lucky man a fine wife one day – good cook you are.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get married…’

  ‘If you don’t, it will be from choice – a lovely girl like you should have dozens of offers…’

  Beth smiled sadly and then found herself telling him about Mark.

  He shook his head over it, then muttered. ‘Damned fool – begging your pardon for my language, miss, but it makes me spit. He should have looked after you instead of thinking of himself…’

  Beth laughed. ‘No wonder I like visiting you,’ she said. ‘You make me feel so much better. I have to get back to my work now. I envy your son his job on the Titanic. It must be wonderful to travel and see the world…’ Beth asked him if she could see his newspaper, which was the Evening Standard, and turned to the page advertising concerts. ‘I’m looking for a concert to take my aunt to,’ she confided and he nodded. ‘I think Harry Lauder should be a safe choice, don’t you?’

  ‘Depends whether your aunt prefers more classical music, or the popular songs. You could always take her to the ballet if you’re not sure – most ladies like that…’ Fred sighed. ‘My wife would have loved to see Anna Pavlova, God bless her soul.’

  ‘Yes, so would I,’ Beth told him and smiled. ‘I don’t think we could afford the ballet – but a nice show with lots of singing and jokes should be all right.’

  ‘My missus liked that as well…’ He smiled at her. ‘You’d best get back, miss, or we’ll both be in trouble.’

  Beth left him to finish his lunch and went back to her department feeling more cheerful. She would miss Sally now that she’d moved up in the world, but Fred would always be there for her.

  ‘I’ll leave you in charge of the department now,’ Mrs Craven said when she went to lunch a little later that day. ‘It seems so strange without Miss Ross here…’

  ‘I wonder how she is getting on,’ Beth said and sighed. She knew she was lucky to have this job, but somehow the spark seemed to have gone out of things since Sally left the department. Beth’s life seemed a bit empty when she thought about going back to her aunt’s house. She would do some cooking and cleaning and then go to bed ready for work the next day. Her thoughts went briefly to Fred’s son, who would be sailing on the Titanic and how exciting it must be to travel in such a luxurious way…

  Shaking her head, she smiled. There was no way she could afford the sort of prices those passengers must have paid…

  18

  Jenni handed Sally a long list of suppliers. It extended to more than two pages of neatly typed names and addresses.

  ‘These are manufacturers and suppliers here in Britain,’ she told Sally. ‘I have not included the American suppliers I used. I will still do the ordering back home, but I shall rely on you to let me know what is needed and whatever mistakes I make. Don’t be shy, because unless you tell me, I can’t know. I feel we should source as much as we can from British suppliers…’

  ‘The Mexican silver has gone really well,’ Sally reminded her.

  She felt as if she was walking through fog. Jenni had been bombarding her with information for the past hour and she was trying to keep up with everything she’d been told. One thing she had gathered was that she had the use of this office, which Jenni was sharing with her brother.

  ‘Ben won’t be here most of the time,’ Jenni told her. ‘Those filing drawers are for the orders and Ben often dives in to look at things, so don’t expect them to be where you left them. My brother has his own system, which is to put the files down anywhere.’ She smiled with a kind of fond exasperation. ‘I think you may do much better with sourcing new lines over here in future, Sally. We’ll visit as many of those firms I mentioned as we can before I leave for New York – but if you really need to ask me something, send me a telegram. I’ll cable you by return. Mostly, you and my brother can settle things here…’ She looked at Sally and grinned. ‘I know I’m a pushy bitch, Sally. I’m expecting too much too soon, but I need to get home…’

  ‘I’ll catch up,’ Sally said and laughed at her employer’s colourful language. It certainly made her feel at ease, because Jenni treated her like an equal rather than a
n employee. ‘I can make contact with the salespeople, either by visiting or the telephone…’ She eyed the instrument dubiously. Sally had never needed to use a telephone, though Jenni had explained how to and it sounded simple enough.

  ‘Sit down at the desk,’ Jenni invited and, when Sally did so, pushed the instrument towards her. ‘Now, pick up the earpiece and hold it to your ear as I showed you. The girl on the exchange will take the number and put you through.’

  ‘Who shall I ring first?’ Sally’s nerves jangled for a moment.

  ‘Why not try that jewellery manufacturer in Hatton Garden? Make an appointment for this afternoon and we’ll go together, see if we can source a new line in silver jewellery.’

  ‘Yes, I will.’ Sally picked up the telephone. She spoke into the mouthpiece and gave the number she wanted. ‘Good morning,’ she said in a firm but polite voice as it was answered, ‘I am the jewellery buyer for Harpers of London and I wish to speak to your head of sales…’

  Jenni nodded encouragingly as Sally spoke. She made an appointment for two that afternoon and thanked the person on the other end, replacing the earpiece on its hook.

  ‘Good start,’ Jenni made a sign of approval. ‘Now, look at number three on the list. They have representatives. Ring them and ask someone to call tomorrow.’

  Sally did as she asked and then did the same with half a dozen other suppliers, who stated they had representatives who would call.

  ‘That will do for now,’ Jenni told her. ‘I think we’ll have sandwiches and some coffee and then get off to Hatton Garden. I’ll let Miss Summers know.’

  She went to the office door, called the secretary, and ordered sandwiches and coffee and her car for one o’clock.

  ‘We could have got the underground to Hatton Garden,’ Sally told her when she came back and drew up a chair at the desk.