“I want two suits—a gray and a blue, cut as nearly like this thing I have on as possible. I’ve written my exact measurements on this card, so don’t jump at me with a tape-line. And I want a plain long coat for rough weather—something serviceable and unfashionable. You look like an intelligent girl, so I don’t expect you to show me anything in red or green. And don’t tell me what they’re wearing in Paris, London or New York—, as though I cared! I pay cash, so there’ll be no time lost in looking up my credit card.”
Grace placed a chair for her singular customer, took hurried counsel of Irene and was soon in the throes of her first sale. The little old lady asked few questions but her inquiries were much to the point.
“Show me only good quality,” she said, tossing aside a skirt after asking its price. “You know perfectly well it can’t be wool for that money, and the color will run the first time it gets rained on.”
“This,” began Grace, “is genuine home-spun, hand-wove——”
“That’s better. This will do for the blue. Find a gray of similar style.”
The gray was more difficult than the blue. She hadn’t wanted a mixed weave but a plain gray, which was not in stock. Grace warmed to her work, praising the quality of a gray with a misty heather mixture. Holding the coat at arm’s length and becoming eloquent as to the fine quality of the garment, Grace turned to find the customer regarding her with a whimsical smile.
“My dear child, you do that very well. How long have you been here?” she demanded.
Grace colored. “This is my first day,” she confessed. The old lady seemed greatly amused at her discomfiture. Her alert eyes brightened behind her glasses.
“Am I your first customer? Well, you’re going to get on. You’ve made me change my mind and not many people ever do that. That heather tone really pleases me better than the plain smooth cloth I had in mind and I’ll take it.”
The customer explained that she walked in all weathers, and wanted warmth, not style, in the topcoat with loose sleeves which she described succinctly. Grace produced half a dozen such coats, one of which her customer chose immediately. She slipped it on, said the sleeves were too short, and Irene passing along opportunely said that nothing could be easier than to let out the sleeve the required two inches.