Henry also visited a local tailor shop, which specialized in the production of fine leather purses, jackets, and other clothing. After he bought a pair of relatively expensive gloves, he obtained permission from the owner to visit the working area. There were several women cutting out patterns and sewing the soft and flexible leather, keeping their heads carefully averted as he walked down the narrow aisle between them, pausing on occasion to observe their work more closely. The last worker, relatively young, looked up at him from her task after he had watched her for a minute or so. Her eyes never wavered from his, they exchanged smiles, and that afternoon he waited outside the shop until she emerged.

Her name was Sophronia Knox but she preferred to be called Sophie, and it was immediately apparent that she welcomed the opportunity to become better acquainted with Henry. They walked to a nearby public area, found a bench, and exchanged information about each other. He quickly learned that Sophie lived with an uncle and aunt, and had never been to school but knew how to read, write, and work with figures. She had been apprenticed to the tailor since she was twelve years old and had begun to be paid a small hourly rate a year later. Sophie was satisfied that her wages were paid directly to her guardians. They treated her kindly, and she was pleased that for the past year she had been given four shillings a week to save or spend as she wished. She was seventeen years old and could not remember her parents, both of whom had died in an epidemic of fever when she was a small child.

Sophie, with her sparkling eyes, curly hair, white teeth, and full, voluptuous lips, aroused Henry in an intense way. She had an apparently unconscious habit of putting her fingers on him when they were talking to each other, and there were increasingly frequent times when her fingernail dragged across his chest or one of his biceps. She impressed Henry with her candor, and he was somewhat overwhelmed with the outpouring of opinions and information about every subject with which she was at all familiar. Although the scope of her life had been limited, she was obviously a keen observer and eager to learn from others. It seemed she would never run out of things to report about her employer, fellow workers, her aunt and uncle, their immediate neighbors, people she had met at church, or her other few acquaintances. Even the simplest and most innocuous conversations or events filled her with a great reservoir of memories that to her were worth sharing.