‘Ah, Miss Jones, this is May Lavender. As I told you, she has run the department almost single-handedly while our previous milliner was indisposed and done a very good job of it. She is a talented young lady and already has her own clientele. I’m sure you will find her a very able assistant.’

Miss Jones was, May judged, in her mid-thirties. She was a tall, spare woman, respectably dressed in black but of a fabric and a cut that proclaimed her familiarity with the latest fashion plates from Paris. She was handsome, rather than beautiful, with strongly pronounced features and hair so black that May doubted whether it could be entirely natural, and dressed in a style that might have been becoming on a younger, prettier girl but looked quite inappropriate to May.

In response to Mr Freeman’s introduction she inclined her head unsmilingly and said, ‘How do you do?’

May bobbed a small curtsy. ‘Pleased to meet you, ma’am.’

‘Miss Jones,’ Mr Freeman went on, ‘is a very experienced milliner. She and a partner have had their own business for several years in Warrington but her partner has retired and so Miss Jones has elected to find “fresh woods and pastures new”.’

Miss Jones looked down her rather long nose at him as if he had said something very foolish. ‘I am not aware of many woods in Liverpool.’

May, familiar with the quotation from James, smiled. ‘I think Mr Freeman was quoting the poet Milton.’

Her reward from her employer was a raised eyebrow and the hint of a smile. From Miss Jones it earned a stony glare.

Freeman cleared his throat. ‘Miss Jones will start work on Monday. I’m sure I can look forward to a millinery department that will be the envy of all other stores. Thank you, May. You had better get back to work. I’m sure there are ladies eager to acquire one of your latest creations.’

When May arrived for work on the Monday morning she found Miss Jones already standing in the middle of the workroom.

‘Well!’ she said. ‘I have never seen a place in such a mess. You may be able to work in the middle of chaos, but I cannot. So you had better get started and tidy up.’

It was on the tip of May’s tongue to protest that she had an urgent commission to finish for one of her regular customers, but she thought better of it. It was true, she had to admit, that Nan’s lackadaisical attitude to tidiness had rubbed off on her. She knew exactly where to put her hand on things, but she could see it would not be easy for a newcomer.