The Pauper of Park Lane

"Well, first, she's evidently a lady--the daughter of a man who has come down in the world most probably: and secondly--"

"Ah! You mean the secret lover--the man who was here yesterday and bought a twenty-guinea evening gown of her to send to his sister--eh?" exclaimed Mr Warner, "buyer" of the costume department of the great drapery house of Cunnington's, in Oxford Street, that huge store which, as everybody knows, competes with Whiteley's and Harrod's for the premier place of the middle-class trade in London.

"Yes," laughed Miss Thomas, the rather stout middle-aged woman who was head saleswoman of the department, as she stood in the small, glass-partitioned office of the buyer, a pleasant-faced man of forty-five who was an expert in ladies' costumes, and twice yearly bought his stock personally in Paris and in Berlin. "Yes. She's a really nice girl, but I can't quite make her out, although she's been here for over a year now."

"And the lover?" asked the buyer, with a glance across the long square room where autumn costumes of every description were displayed upon stands, or hanging by the hundred in long rows, while ranged round the walls were many expensive evening-dresses exhibited in glass cases. It was afternoon, and the place was full of customers, the assistants in their neat black holding ready-made skirts to their sides to try the effect, or conducting the prospective purchaser to the fitting-rooms. And yet they were not what Mr Warner termed "busy."

"The man, too, is a mystery, like Miss Rolfe. Nobody knows his name. He comes in sometimes, goes up to her, and asks to be served with a skirt or something, and has it sent to Mr Evans at some chambers in Dover Street. The name is, of course, not the right one," said the head assistant. "But Miss Rolfe knows it, of course?"

"Probably she does."

"And she meets him after business hours?"

"I think so. But she keeps herself very much to herself, and is always at home early."

Mr Warner glanced across at the tall, fair-haired, handsome girl, whose figure showed to such advantage in her black satin gown. At that moment she was displaying a cheap tweed skirt to two middle-aged women. Her face, as he caught its profile, was very soft and refined, the contour of her cheeks perfect, and the stray wisp of hair across the brow gave a softness to her countenance that was charming. Many a stage girl whose photograph was displayed in the shop-windows was not half so beautiful as the demure, hard-working shop-assistant, Marion Rolfe.

The air of mystery surrounding her, Mr Warner found interesting, and the love-romance now in progress he intended to watch. Towards his assistants, he was always lenient. Unlike some "buyers," he was never hard, and never bullied them. He believed that by treating them with kindliness and with the courtesy every man should show towards a woman he obtained the best of their business abilities, as no doubt he did. "Warner of the Costumes" was known through the whole "house" as one of the most considerate of men, and one of the most trusted of old Mr Cunnington's advisers. Those in his department were envied by all the other seven hundred odd assistants in the employment of the great firm.

While Mr Warner and Miss Thomas were speaking, a smart-looking, fair-haired, fair-moustached young man of about twenty-five, in frock coat and silk hat, entered, and walking up to the little office, greeted the buyer saying--

"Mr Warner, I'm sorry to worry you, but may I speak to my sister for a moment on some important family business? I won't keep her but a few moments, for I see she's busy."