The Shop Girls of Harpers

by Rosie Clarke

  ‘You will make your own arrangements next time,’ Jenni said, ‘but I hate the subway at home. It smells and it’s dark. Give me a comfortable car with a chauffeur any time.’

  Sally laughed. ‘I never had that luxury until I met you, Jenni. It was a treat to go on the underground for us kids from the orphanage.’

  ‘It’s sad that you never had a family,’ Jenni said, looking sympathetic. She hesitated, then, ‘Do you think you will like this new job? My brother was carried away with the idea, but we did rather dump it on you.’

  ‘It was a shock, but I’m getting used to the idea. I’ll tell you more in a few days,’ Sally said. ‘I’m still trying to get it all straight in my head at the moment…’

  ‘I know it’s a lot to ask,’ Jenni agreed. ‘It took me a while to find my feet back home. I don’t mind telling you that I’ve made a few mistakes here, Sally. I didn’t buy enough of that jewellery you’ve been selling and I bought too many expensive suits. I thought British men looked smart and would be sure to buy at least a couple of suits a year, but I’ve since discovered that only the wealthy ones have more than one suit…’

  ‘Someone once told me that even the aristocratic men buy just a few good clothes from their tailors and keep them forever,’ Sally said with a smile. ‘It’s men in business that buy the suits, but they don’t want the kind you stocked; it’s normally pinstripe or good wool tweed for them, something that lasts. Your idea of buying a good suit off the peg is new here, Jenni. The thirty-shilling tailors are usually busy. Some of our stock is priced at five pounds and above, and for most ordinary men that is a fortune. Only the gangsters can afford our prices.’

  ‘That’s why I’m taking some of the more expensive suits back to New York with me when I leave,’ Jenni said and glanced at her wristwatch. ‘I should have been on board the ship by now.’

  ‘Do you regret staying on for a while to help Mr Harper?’

  ‘Yes and no.’ Jenni made a wry face. ‘I regret I don’t get to travel in that glorious stateroom, but my brother needs my help, so the answer is no, I’m glad to help him. Maybe I’ll get to travel on the Titanic another time – coming this way perhaps. It won’t be quite the same as the maiden voyage, but it’s still a wonderful ship.’

  ‘Fabulous,’ Sally agreed. ‘I’ve only read about it in the paper, but I’d love to be on it.’

  ‘I’d like to take you to New York one day,’ Jenni said and laughed as she saw Sally’s reaction. ‘However, it’s these suppliers here that we need to get sorted… Come in…’ She answered the knock at the door and the secretary brought in a tray of sandwiches and a pot of coffee.

  ‘I know you like yours black, Miss Harper, but I wasn’t sure about Miss Ross – so I brought milk and sugar…’

  ‘Thank you. I do take milk and sugar, Miss Summers.’

  ‘Cucumber and cress and smoked salmon with cucumber,’ Jenni remarked, examining the sandwiches after the secretary left. ‘Eat what you wish, Sally. You’ll need something inside you. We may have a battle on our hands. The first lesson in dealing with a new supplier is to refuse their first price, even if it sounds cheap. We want at least ten per cent off whatever they say…’

  Sally ate some of the sandwiches and drank two cups of coffee. Jenni did the same. She was slim, but she didn’t hold back when it came to eating and Sally assumed she used up a lot of nervous energy because she was never still for five minutes. Jenni didn’t sit so much as perch and she was up and down all the time, throwing out her arms to express her ideas, full of energy and the joy of living. It was the first time her American birth had really showed up the differences between them, because most English women were far more reserved.

  They left before one o’clock so that they would arrive on time for their appointment. It wasn’t the first time Sally had been to Hatton Garden. Since leaving the orphanage, she’d used the public transport, trams, underground and buses to see as much as she could of London, but it was the first time during working hours. Passing some bullion dealers, she looked at the heavy iron bars on the window. You had to ring a bell for admittance at most of the workshops and wholesalers here.

  Sally was wearing her best jacket over a smart grey skirt with a white blouse that had a lace collar. She’d wanted to make a good impression and knew she would need to spend some of her wages to buy herself better clothes. As the buyer for Harpers, she needed to look the part and wasn’t restricted to a uniform like the salesgirls.

  They were greeted by a man in a suit: grey pinstripe, the trousers a little shiny, his black shoes polished so hard, Sally thought he must be able to see his face in them.

  ‘Mr Heinrick?’ Jenni asked. ‘I’m Miss Harper and this is our buyer, Miss Ross. She is the one who will be dealing with you in future – should we wish to stock any of your lines.’

  ‘Miss Ross, we spoke on the telephone.’ He offered his hand. ‘It was good of you to phone. So many others come without an appointment and it is not always possible for me to speak to them personally.’

  ‘We are looking for a range of good-quality silver we can sell at a reasonable price,’ Sally said. ‘What can you show us please?’

  Jenni gave a little nod of approval but said nothing, leaving it to Sally to lead the way. Mr Heinrick took them through to the workrooms, where four men were working on handmade silver items. It was fascinating to watch the silver being worked and for a moment Sally was mesmerised, but then she saw a man engraving a bangle and approached his bench, watching as he finished his work and then began to polish the silver. He held it up for her to admire. She saw at once that it was the equal of the silver she’d been selling but more reserved in taste; some of the Mexican silver had been rather flamboyant but perhaps that was why it had sold so well.

  ‘Lovely,’ she said. ‘How many of these do you make in a day?’

  ‘Depends on the order,’ he said evasively and looked at his boss.

  ‘We could manufacture about a hundred a day if every piece was same, but we work on orders. We are a bespoke firm, Miss Ross – that is why our prices are higher than some of the other jewellers in the Garden.’

  ‘What would the price be to us on a bangle like this?’

  ‘Again, it depends. Individually, I should charge fifteen shillings for a bangle of this quality, but if you ordered twelve, the price could come down to eleven shillings per bangle.’

  Sally examined it. She knew she needed to sell it for nineteen shillings and sixpence if she wanted to entice the customers. ‘I need ten shillings a piece if I order a dozen,’ she said. ‘Now, show me something with stones set in the silver please.’

  Mr Heinrick wrote something on his pad and someone brought a velvet lined tray with bangles displaying various stones set into the silver. Sally noticed at once that the quality was better than the Mexican silver and nodded.

  ‘How much for these individually, and if I took a dozen?’

  ‘It depends…’ he began and then, as Sally frowned. ‘Very well, Miss Ross – to you the price for a dozen assorted semi-precious stones, including amethysts, garnets and peridot as well as turquoise, will be fifteen shillings each. If you should require sapphires or ruby with diamonds, the price rises to between thirty shillings and two pounds and that is the best offer you will get in the Garden.’

  ‘Good.’ Sally smiled. ‘We shall need twelve of the plain and twelve of the bangles set with semi-precious stones in our first order…’ She glanced at Jenni and saw her nod of approval. ‘I’d like to see some silver brooches – with a strong design, Art Nouveau would be good. I like enamelling if you have anything to show us…’

  It took nearly two hours to go through all the stock and to sort out the prices. By the time they’d finished, Mr Heinrick had an order worth nearly two hundred pounds and they had a parcel of lovely jewellery.

  ‘You amazed me,’ Jenni said when they were sitting in the car on their way back to the store. ‘I would have thought you’d been buying for a store for years if I
didn’t know better – how did you know what to price the goods at?’

  ‘Because I knew what they needed to be if we were to double up on the profit,’ Sally told her. ‘Unless we can double and still sell at the same price as the Mexican silver, we might be stuck with some of it for ages.’

  ‘I’ll have some more of that Mexican silver sent out as soon as I can,’ Jenni said. ‘But I’ll also be placing an order with Mr Heinrick to take back with me to America – I thought the quality was better than anything I bought…’

  ‘The Mexican silver was something different,’ Sally said, beginning to feel confident, ‘that’s why it sold so well for a start, but we’ll need variety to keep customers returning for more. I’ll find a few more suppliers, but we’ll see how this stock goes first…’

  ‘Had I known you could manage so well I might have sailed with the Titanic…’ Jenni looked wistful as she glanced at her wristwatch – it was platinum and diamond with a diamond-set strap and obviously expensive.

  ‘I fear it’s too late, it must have sailed by now,’ Sally said. ‘Anyway, I don’t know anywhere near as much about women’s clothing – and we have three suppliers to meet tomorrow. They all agreed to send representatives in to see us. I think it will need both of us to make the decisions over the restocking…’

  ‘Yes,’ Jenni agreed. ‘That is one we need two heads on – and Ben too, if he can spare the time – although my brother has a friend visiting at the moment. Dolores is an actress, Sally, and beautiful – though my uncle would have thought her vulgar. Some folk make the mistake of thinking that all Americans are vulgar, but some of us know how to behave…’

  Sally laughed as she was meant to. For a moment, she felt like pinching herself. It wasn’t five minutes since she’d been serving behind the counters with Maggie and Beth, and now she was on first-name terms with her employer and being taken all over London in her expensive hired car. Her thoughts went to her friends, because she liked Beth, Maggie and Mrs Craven, and hoped she wouldn’t lose touch because of her promotion…

  19

  Listening to her aunt laugh, Beth felt that she’d chosen the concert well. The music had been lovely, but she’d laughed at the comedian Little Tich and enjoyed the well-known singer, Vesta Tilley, though it was a melody sung by Eugene Stratton that had brought tears to her eyes.

  ‘Well, that was a proper birthday treat,’ Aunt Helen said when they left the theatre and caught a tram home. ‘I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed myself so much, Beth. Thank you.’

  ‘I enjoyed it too,’ Beth assured her. She’d been anxious to pick a show her aunt would approve and felt relieved that it had all gone so well.

  ‘My father never approved of the music hall or the theatre in any form,’ Aunt Helen said. ‘When your mother first started courting, I had to go with her, because our parents insisted – and your father took us to the theatre twice. I liked it then too but I’d forgotten how much…’

  She looked thoughtful as she led the way into the kitchen and put the kettle on the gas hob. Beth cut them both a piece of seed cake and they ate their supper almost in silence. Her aunt seemed lost in thought and when Beth bid her goodnight, she merely nodded and sat dreaming over the teapot, clearly lost in her memories.

  Had her aunt once had dreams of love and a family? Beth would never have guessed it, but now she wondered. Her grandfather had by all accounts been very strict. Beth’s mother had been allowed to marry, but Aunt Helen had stayed at home to care for her father until he died, making her living by sewing for other women. Was she ever envious when she made beautiful evening gowns for others, knowing that she would never have a chance to wear such things.

  It had taken all of Beth’s bonus to pay for their treat. She couldn’t afford to do it again for ages, but she would save what she could and perhaps they could visit the theatre again nearer Christmas, which was ages away yet.

  Turning over in bed, Beth heard her aunt come upstairs at last. She was glad that she’d had the idea of taking Aunt Helen to the theatre as a birthday gift and hoped that perhaps it would lead to a better understanding between them.

  It would help if she earned a little extra every week, but she couldn’t expect to get a bonus all the time and she wasn’t due for a pay rise yet. Maggie had got hers early, because she’d moved up from junior to sales staff, but Beth would have to wait a little longer. Still she liked her job and after seeing how long Sally’s hours were now, Beth didn’t think she’d want her job. Promotion sounded wonderful and it was, but it also brought a lot of work and responsibility.

  It was Tuesday morning and Sally was at her desk, busily working her way through the list of firms she wanted to visit when the door of the office opened and Ben Harper walked in. He looked at her and his face was as white as a sheet. Sally’s heart missed a beat because there was clearly something very wrong.

  ‘Have you seen Jenni this morning?’ he asked.

  ‘No, she hasn’t come in yet.’

  ‘She must have heard the news,’ he said and sat down heavily in a chair. ‘It sank – can you believe it? They said it couldn’t sink and it went down so fast, hundreds of them died. If Jenni had been on board…’ He gasped and ran his fingers through his hair before turning to her. ‘It’s all due to you, Sally Ross! If you hadn’t spoken out, Jenni would have been on that ship… she’s alive because I asked her to stay on and teach you her job…’

  Sally gasped. ‘You don’t mean… the Titanic has gone down? They said it was so strong… how could it happen? Did someone attack it? Was it an explosion?’ She shook her head in disbelief. Everyone had said it was the safest ship ever to sail and it had sunk on its maiden voyage.

  ‘The news is filtering in bit by bit,’ Ben said, sounding shocked. ‘I’ve heard they hit an iceberg and went down before any rescue ships could get there… The worst thing is they’re saying in the paper that the ship didn’t have enough lifeboats. A lot of the passengers must have died…’

  ‘Thank goodness Jenni didn’t take that ship!’ Sally said, deeply moved. The shock and horror of it made her feel sick for a moment.

  ‘Amen to that,’ Ben agreed, ‘but one of her friends may have – and Marie had her young son with her. Jenni will feel terrible if they didn’t get off in time…’

  ‘Yes, of course she will,’ Sally agreed, realising how it would make her employer feel. ‘It is absolutely terrible – and I know there were hundreds of people travelling steerage. They were looking for a new life in America, and now…’ Tears were trickling down her cheeks, because it was just so sad. All those people dying in a freezing sea when they’d expected to have a wonderful voyage. Her first relief that Jenni Harper wasn’t on board had given way to distress for the people who had perished.

  ‘I must go to the hotel and speak to my sister,’ Mr Harper told her, seeming to summon his strength. ‘If she hasn’t come in, it’s because she is too upset. I know Jenni; she will be blaming herself for her friend being on that ship.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Sally agreed.

  After he’d gone, Sally continued to feel sombre. She was in need of company and decided to leave her work for a while and seek out her friends in her old department. It might be a good idea to see how the new stock was doing compared to the Mexican silver they’d been selling.

  Mrs Craven smiled at her as she entered the department. Beth was serving a customer with hats and Maggie had just sold a silk scarf, which she was carefully wrapping in tissue.

  ‘I thought you might visit us,’ Mrs Craven said. ‘I’ve put some of the new stock out this morning, and I’ve already sold two of the bangles with semi-precious stones.’

  ‘That is one of the things I wanted to discuss,’ Sally said. ‘Did you think it compared well with what we had previously?’

  ‘The bangles are better quality and they sell for the same price. I don’t think you need to buy much more of the Mexican silver, Miss Ross. The customers seem to think the new stock is better value.’
<
br />   ‘Yes, it is,’ Sally agreed.

  They spoke for a few moments of the other stock and she made notes in her book, because Maggie needed more gloves in the small size and scarves in muted shades rather than the bright colours that sold less often.

  ‘Have you heard the news?’ she asked when Mrs Craven had finished outlining their recent sales. ‘Mr Harper told me a few minutes ago. It is so shocking – the Titanic hit an iceberg, last night I think. The news is uncertain at the moment, but they’re reporting that not enough lifeboats were supplied and that means hundreds of people died in the sea…’

  ‘Oh no! I hadn’t heard. Fred’s son was on that ship as a steward,’ Beth said and gasped with horror.

  Sally and Mrs Craven turned to look at her. She’d finished serving her customer and had come over to speak with them when she heard the terrible news.

  ‘He was so proud of him getting that job and now…’ A tear trickled down Beth’s cheek. ‘It will break his heart…’

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Mrs Craven said. ‘Would you like to take your break now and go down and speak to him?’

  ‘Yes please,’ Beth said, hesitated, then, ‘I wanted to tell you, Miss Ross – we have sold all but one of our black hats…’

  ‘Thank you. I ordered a new range and there are several smart ones in black. The company director promised me they would come in today or tomorrow.’

  Beth nodded, turned away at once and left the department.

  ‘It makes it personal when you know people who were travelling on the ship,’ Sally said. ‘Miss Harper would have been on it had she not stayed behind to teach me her job… but she sold her ticket to a friend who had a small son with her…’

  ‘That is terrible for her,’ Mrs Craven agreed. ‘She will feel guilty about the people who died, because she is safe.’

  ‘Yes. Mr Harper told me the news and then went over to his sister’s hotel to see if he could comfort her…’

  ‘A tragedy like that casts a shadow over everything,’ Mrs Craven said, looking pale and concerned. ‘It’s all the more dreadful because everyone thought that ship was so sturdy.’