Free Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson Page A

accessories are. Apparently you said one of us would drop them round to Cavendish Square. Do you want me to kill two birds with one stone?’
    â€˜Only if I can choose the birds,’ Ronnie muttered sarcastically.
    â€˜Ignore her,’ Lettice said, ‘and yes please—that would be very helpful. There might be some other things we need from Debenhams, though—give me five minutes and I’ll bring you a list.’
    Marjorie shut the door behind her and Ronnie raised an eyebrow. ‘So I exaggerate, do I? Accessories? They only have to snap their expensively manicured fingers for us to jump—and for what? The self-glorification of half a dozen bored women with more time and money than they know what to do with. Go on, admit it—you know I’m right.’ She got up and looked over her sister’s shoulders. ‘God, that’s good,’ she said, admiring the delicate image which was just receiving its finishing touches. ‘Please tell me we’re not giving it away.’
    â€˜Of course we’re not.’ Lettice tore the sheet of thick white paper impatiently from its pad and waved it back and forth a few times to dry the paint. ‘While you’ve been holding forth, I’ve been hard at it,’ she said, and handed the page over smugly. ‘I think you’ll find that Wendy’s ballet has been taking shape without you.’ Enjoying the surprise on Ronnie’s face, she continued: ‘Anyway, not all charity is selfless—we took Marjorie on trust from prison and she’s turned out to be the best seamstress we’ve got.’
    â€˜All right, all right—I agree with you completely about that, but rehabilitation is a very different thing from meddling and fundraising. I’m proud that we’ve been able to give Marjorie a fresh start—she’s not even quite such a cheeky little madam as she was when she first arrived.’
    Lettice laughed. ‘I’m sure a girl needs a bit of spirit where she’s been. Anyway, I always like to meet someone who can give you a run for your money.’ She stood up and walked over to the glass that separated the main workroom from the small design studio which the sisters shared. ‘And the other girls seem to like her. I was worried they’d give her a hard time at first, but she settled in right away. It’s hard to believe she’s only been with us for six months.’
    Ronnie stubbed her cigarette out and joined her sister at the window. ‘It’s hard to believe that this is here at all,’ she said, looking across at the roomful of women, engrossed in a series of small individual tasks that made up a remarkably successful whole—a business which now occupied two houses in St Martin’s Lane and kept sixty people on the payroll, including thirty fulltime seamstresses. ‘The last eighteen months have been extraordinary, haven’t they? First Hamlet , and now Romeo —we’ve never had better notices than the ones we’re getting at the moment. Johnny’s certainly been lucky for us.’
    â€˜And Josephine—if it weren’t for the success of Richard of Bordeaux , I’m not sure any of us would have had the freedom we’ve enjoyed since.’
    They watched as their head cutter showed one of the newer girls how to work with a length of beautiful soft crêpe, reassuring her when she got it wrong and patiently starting again at the beginning. ‘Look at Hilda,’ Ronnie said affectionately. ‘Do you remember when she taught us to cut fabric and makeup costumes like that? She was the village dressmaker’s niece and we couldn’t tell one end of a needle from the other—who’d have thought that we’d all end up here?’
    â€˜And thank God she still enjoys it as much as we do. I suppose we could have our pick of cutters and supervisors now, but I honestly think the whole place would fall