Mrs. Burton to whom she went first had said that she had no vacancy in her shop and certainly not for somebody without previous experience.

Then she had been astute enough to realise that Thalia’s beauty, the educated manner in which she spoke and her whole appearance might be an asset.

She looked her up and down very critically and found it difficult to find fault.

“I will give you a trial in the workroom,” she said at length. “But, if you are not satisfactory, you can leave without notice and without making any fuss.”

“I accept your conditions, madam,” Thalia had replied.

Mrs. Burton had offered a remuneration for her services that was so small as to be almost ludicrous, but Thalia did not complain.

She told herself that once she was in the position she would make herself indispensable and her earnings would improve.

Mrs. Burton, although she was not prepared to say so, had been astounded not only by the artistry with which Thalia could trim bonnets but, when she was promoted to the front of the shop, the skill by which she would flatter a customer into buying more than she had first intended.

‘I could not do better myself,’ she often thought.

But she had no intention of saying so, knowing that if a shopwoman was praised she invariably expected her wages to escalate accordingly.

In April, when Mrs. Burton’s shop was run off its feet in preparation for the Royal Wedding of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of the Belgians, which was to take place on the fourth of May, Thalia became, as she had intended, indispensable.

Although her mother was still horrified that she must demean herself to work in a shop, she and Hannah were glad of the money that she brought home.

Now, as if she had been thinking over what Thalia had been saying to her, Lady Caversham asked,

“Is it really necessary, dearest, for you to come in contact with gentlemen like the Earl of Hellington? I don’t remember your father speaking of him, but, if he does not treat you as a lady, it will be because of the invidious position you are now placed in.”

“I told you, Mama, he treated me as if I was a milliner,” Thalia said with laughter in her voice, “and tipped me for my pains.”

Lady Caversham shuddered.

“I cannot bear to think of it,” she moaned.

Then with a little cry, she exclaimed,

“He did not know who you were?”

“No, of course not, Mama,” Thalia answered, “and, even if he asked my name, Mrs. Burton, as you are well aware, only knows me as ‘Miss Carver’.”

Lady Caversham sighed.

“Such a common name!” she had protested when Thalia had told her that it was the name she had chosen.