Chapter 21 Sam's Way...
Sam's apology flattered Lily, making her feel even more that Kate had introduced her to a good job. That night, when she and Kate lay together on the shabby little bed in the servants' room, she was finally able to sleep peacefully without worrying about being kicked out.
After hearing her brother's explanation, Susan didn't dwell on his little mistake, which made Sam feel a bit uncomfortable. "Do you think I'm just bored and deliberately causing you trouble? If it weren't for Sister Mary asking me to, I wouldn't want to deal with you smelly guys. I have so many things to do every day!" Susan rolled her eyes at Sam's aggrieved look.
It wasn't a big deal when John left alone; after all, he mainly helped manage the accounts, and the arithmetic was a piece of cake for Mary. But when Richard also left, the sisters started to feel inconvenienced: although Mr. Brown's fabric shop had become a stable partner for the past two years, and the shop assistants were familiar with them, so they didn't have to worry about deliveries, it became much more difficult for them to personally select fabrics. As daughters, they found it hard to find an excuse to go out alone at Mrs. Price's. Moreover, without John and Richard's sales pitches to the male students at their school, and with no one to keep track of the latest market trends, their hat business gradually hit a bottleneck.
Susan even suggested that she disguise herself as a boy and go to the market alone: "Mary, you're too pretty, which will only attract attention. William and I look so alike, and if I wear the clothes my brothers left behind, those bad guys probably won't be able to tell that I'm a girl. Nothing will happen." Since her brothers left Portsmouth and Mary transferred five percent of her share to her, Susan was even more eager to try and show her own value, instead of always passively accepting her sister Mary's help.
Mary shook her head, rejecting Susan's dangerous idea: "You must not entertain that thought. We don't need to take such a risk right now. Although you and William look alike, it's not safe for such a thin little boy to walk alone in the market. Do you think those people only traffic girls? Do you think all the thieves in the market and alleys are voluntarily involved in this line of work?"
She decided to readjust her strategy. "The Portsmouth market is still too small," Mary said to Susan in bed one night before going to sleep. "Our hat sales haven't seen any breakthrough in the last three months; in fact, sales of hats priced at twenty-one and sixteen shillings are gradually declining, indicating that these hats are becoming saturated with our current customer base. We need more than just an assistant; we need new incentives, more stable customers, preferably aristocratic ladies who don't care about price but only about style, to provide them with expensive bespoke services."
“You mean those hats that cost two or three pounds, but apart from the very wealthy officers’ wives and rich businesswomen who admire the general’s wife, not many people buy them. How can you reach a large number of such customers? Unless you ask General Maxwell’s wife to help you with introductions, she will definitely feel it’s not respectable and it will affect her opinion of you, which would be a loss.”
Last Sunday at Mass at the cathedral, Susan had the privilege of meeting the General's wife. She was wearing a deep purple, high-waisted gown with exquisite gold embroidery along the hem, and a white lace shawl. Sunlight streamed through the cathedral's stained-glass windows, casting colorful patterns that made her appear even more elegant and ethereal. Upon seeing the Price family, she condescended to greet the Price couple and her goddaughter before leaving, surrounded by servants. How could such a noblewoman possibly be willing to introduce business to someone, even if that person was her goddaughter?
“Of course not the General’s wife.” Mary already had a plan in mind, but she still needed to wait for the right opportunity. Over the past two years, the General was not completely unaware of how Mary had managed to save two or three hundred pounds. The Price family’s situation was well-known, and it was no secret that John and Richard frequently visited Brown’s Cloth Shop and Taylor’s Tailor Shop.
During her visit to the general's mansion, the general subtly reminded his goddaughter, "Mary, you know, it's ultimately not appropriate for a girl to be out in the public eye doing business." Mary's heart sank, but the general's next words stunned her: "However, as long as you don't personally show up, it won't be a big deal." Mary instantly understood her godfather's meaning—as long as everything remained out in the open, no one would delve into her little "secret."
Mary and Susan, being of similar social standing, certainly couldn't get close to those aristocratic young ladies, but there was one person who could do so with ease: Anne. Anne would be eleven next year, and General Maxwell planned to send his daughter to a girls' boarding school in London. Mary couldn't persuade the general's wife, but asking Anne to introduce their hats to the girls' school wouldn't be a problem. She wasn't planning to rush things now.
She didn't place all her hopes on Anne, who hadn't even started boarding school yet. Recently, Mary had written a letter to her sister Fanny at Mansfield Park, enclosing several hats. If she told Fanny directly that she and Susan were in business, dear Fanny would surely be horrified, but if she told her these hats were "gifts" for her Aunt Bertram and her cousins, Fanny certainly wouldn't doubt it. Given her cousin Edmund's generosity, he certainly wouldn't be stingy if her cousins wanted similar hats; even if this "gift" went down the drain, it wouldn't matter, her uncle had already helped the Price family enough, consider it a token of gratitude.
Amidst Susan's lingering anxiety, the Price family received a letter from John: he had passed the entrance exams for Wenshi Middle School and was currently staying at Sir Thomas's house in London, to be moved to the school once classes began; London was very bustling, but Sir Thomas's chef was, in his opinion, not as good as their Kate, and he greatly missed Mary's improved apple cinnamon pie. Mary read the letter to the family, and Mrs. Price's worries finally eased somewhat.
Charlotte finally returned from the countryside before the summer vacation ended, and as soon as she got back, she invited Mary and Susan to her house.
“I really miss you all. The scenery at Aunt’s place is beautiful and the air is fresh, but it’s hard to find anyone to chat with. My brother David dropped us off there and came back, leaving just my mother and me. My cousin doesn’t play with me either. It’s not just that I’m bored staying in the pastor’s house every day, but my uncle always tries to preach to us. It’s even more terrifying than Miss Williams’s moral education class. I don’t know how my aunt can stand him.”
Charlotte kept complaining about her trip to the countryside, feeling completely cheated. She had gone there for the pleasant scenery, but her uncle, a clergyman, had turned out to be so outrageous. "What's worse, David told me when we got back that he knew his uncle would act this way, which is why he didn't stay. How about you guys? Anything interesting happening in Portsmouth lately?"
“There’s nothing to say, everything is the same as always.” Mary waved her hand.
“Even worse, if you knew that our brothers John and Richard recently left Portsmouth, you would think the same thing to me,” Susan added.
"What about your business?" Charlotte, one of the people who knew the most about the situation, couldn't help but ask, "They've all left, who will help you now?"
Mary and Susan exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Now that it's just the two of us sisters, we especially need an assistant." After saying that, the two sisters looked at Charlotte.
Charlotte's eyes lit up: "You mean, I can help too?" She lowered her voice excitedly, as if she were plotting something big.
Mary smiled slightly: "That's right, we need a collaborator, a young lady who can not only openly go to the market to get information, but also has amazing social skills and can help us sell hats without leaving a trace." Susan added: "Just like you did unintentionally two years ago, you've always been popular at school and can easily find out the latest preferences of those ladies."
Charlotte almost jumped up: "That's fantastic! I'm so tired of spending all my time embroidering and playing the piano! I've admired your courage for two years now!" But then her mood sombered. "But if my parents found out, they'd definitely object."
“So this must be a secret between just a few of us.” Mary pulled a small booklet from under her sewing basket, filled with densely packed coded messages: “The thread is too good”—the design is very popular; “Need to change the needle”—not liked, needs to be modified; “Out of ink”—get the right materials immediately…
Once Charlotte had memorized everything, Mary took out her newly drawn sketches: "I've recently designed a few new styles. Which ones do you think are most likely to be popular?"
Charlotte flipped through the patterns and suddenly pointed to a wide-brimmed hat decorated with ribbons, shells and pearls: "This one! The hat that looked like it was made entirely of flowers was also beautiful, but I think the ladies would definitely prefer this one, because I heard my mother mention that Mrs. Johnson wore a similar style."
As a new partner, Charlotte received five percent of the business from Mary. Before the new school term, they had re-established a new operating model: Mary was in charge of design, embroidery, and accounting; Aunt Taylor was in charge of initial production; Susan was in charge of polishing materials and decorations; and Charlotte was in charge of gathering information and marketing. With the help of the code words, the Browns were completely unaware of the girls' "little secret."
A note from the author:
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