‘Good morning.’ The woman sat down and inclined her head imperiously. ‘I have come to choose the material and the pattern for a new gown. It’s for Ladies’ Day at Ascot in June. One must look one’s best for such an event. All the most elite people will be there, of course, and one wouldn’t like to be outdone.’

‘Of course,’ Miss May agreed as Holly tried hard not to laugh. It appeared that this woman was larger than life in every way and was clearly a raging snob.

‘Holly, would you lift some of the material down for me?’ Miss May simpered. ‘What sort of thing did you have in mind, Lady Hamilton?’

The woman waved a heavily beringed hand airily. ‘Oh something bright, don’t you think? It will be summertime after all. What’s that blue satin the girl has there? The colour reminds me of summer skies.’

As Miss May stared worriedly at the lady’s large girth she thought that the material would be quite wrong for her. It could only accentuate her portly figure but as she had taught Holly, the customer was always right, so she fetched the material Holly had just laid on the counter and spread it across the lady’s lap.

‘It’s a very fine quality,’ she assured her. ‘But perhaps we could use it for accents on something a little more discreet?’

‘Nonsense,’ the woman snorted, clearly used to always having her own way. ‘Let me look at the pattern book.’ And so for the next twenty minutes she pored through the patterns, finally settling on one that again Miss May thought was quite unsuitable. Even so she sent for one of the seamstresses who ushered her into a fitting room where she took her measurements. When the woman finally breezed out of the shop sometime later Miss May sighed. ‘Aw well, it’s her choice, I suppose.’

Holly giggled. ‘They’ll certainly see her coming,’ she said wickedly. ‘Especially if she has a milliner make her a hat in the same material.’

‘She lost her husband a short while ago,’ Miss May informed her. ‘And from the rumours I’ve heard she’s having a whale of a time and is very attracted to younger male escorts.’

They both fell about laughing and Holly realised that in actual fact Miss May had quite a wicked sense of humour despite the prim façade she presented to the public and her customers.

Chapter Eight

On Saturday morning Holly glanced at the clock on the wall in the shop. There was only an hour to go until she could leave and then she and Ivy were going shopping for some new clothes for Ivy and a new skirt and blouse for herself. Lady Hamilton, it appeared, was not the only one who wished to have a gown made for the various society events over the summer and they had had a steady stream of customers requiring new gowns all week. She was busy returning the bolts of material to the shelves when the shop bell tinkled and, plastering a smile to her face, Holly turned to greet the customer. Her mouth fell open when she saw who it was, and quite forgetting herself she whispered, ‘Mother!’