She stiffened her back. “Thank you for walking me home,” she said. “I wish you safe travels.” Her voice sounded overly formal, given their friendship.
He flashed a sheepish grin. “You could run away with me. See if we couldn’t set your feet on Irish soil.”
Incorrigible Henry Prince. “I’d better go inside,” Briar said. Whether he acted it or not, he needed to catch that train. She reached out her hand to shake his at the same time he moved in to hug her.
They both laughed.
Before Briar could decide what to do next, Henry caught her hand and kissed it on that soft spot between first finger and thumb. There was something gentlemanly about the motion that raised her opinion of Henry another notch. When he held her hand longer than was proper, she let him, but then pulled away, clasping her hands together.
He opened the door and waited for her to turn around and wave before he nodded, shutting the door between them. The hallway darkened.
“Good-bye, Henry Prince,” Briar said to the closed door. Take care of the letter. And yourself.
Chapter Eight
Briar hung her coat on a peg, and there was a rush of legs as the boarders in the house began dashing downstairs. Mim zipped by, pushing girls out of the way and squeezing into the parlor. Another room-mate, Ethel, followed slowly behind the other girls. Briar caught Ethel’s arm as she was about to turn into the parlor. “What’s the rush?”
“Miss Olive is finished with the latest Godey’s Lady’s book and is dividing it up. Mim wants the fashion section, of course. I’m vying for the conclusion to ‘Loyal Foes’ before Mary gets it. Want to help my odds?” She pulled Briar into the parlor.
“Actually, I’d rather have a look at the local paper,” Briar said, observing the woman near the pianoforte carefully cutting pages out of the magazine while girls gathered around like little chicks about a mother hen. Her brown hair was put up in the fashion of the time, but her age was difficult to discern. She was old enough to be any of their mothers, for certain, but was she of grandmotherly age or not? Her hair had a touch of silver mixed in but was cleverly hidden with fancy combs placed just so. She had no family other than “her girls,” as she called all the young women who came and went through the boardinghouse over the years.
Briar continued, whispering, “She’s not going to save up much for herself if she keeps spending her earnings on us.”
Ethel smiled. “You have been listening to my savings lectures. Don’t worry about Miss Olive. She’s a smart businesswoman—keeps her girls happy, educates us, and we all love her for it. If she were ever in need, we’d all pitch in to help.”
“I think you are her star pupil.”
“I have to be,” Ethel said. “In this world a woman has to look out for herself. It is the woman’s century, after all.”
Ethel spotted an empty seat on the sofa and scooted the other girls over to make room for them.
Mim rolled her eyes at Ethel as she came back triumphant with the fashion section. “I’ll show you the way out of the mill,” she said. “Spend your money on frivolity such as these and catch the eye of a rich man. It’s a whole lot less work and a lot more fun than what you’ve got planned.”
“Make sure you pick the right man, Mim. You don’t want just any rich man or you’ll regret it the rest of your life,” Ethel said.
“Oh, pooh. You’re such a spoil sport.” She wiggled her hips in between the two girls. “Let me show you, Briar. You’ve got such natural beauty buried under your plain garb. I can bring it out in a minute if you’d only spend your money on a trinket now and then.”
Briar took one look at the fancy dress with leg-o’-mutton sleeves ending in not one, but three ruffles of batiste lace. “I’ll never be able to afford a silk dress trimmed in lace,” she said.
Mim turned the page. “That’s not the point. These pictures are for inspiration. You find what you like, then adapt it to what you have. Like this bonnet.”
The bonnet in question was smaller than Briar’s mam’s, with an enormous bow on the front and a ribbon to tie under her chin. Such a flouncy thing would seem out of place with her plain calico frock.
“Wear this out walking with your Wheeler and what a handsome couple you would make. He would be proud to have you on his arm.”
Briar did a quick check to see if Sadie heard. Thankfully, she was no longer in the room. “Keep your voice down,” Briar chided. Having to live in the same boardinghouse as Sadie was hard enough, but to add Mim’s cavalier comments about Wheeler made it oft unbearable. Mim was convinced Sadie was a passing fancy, the last wild oats of a young man nervous about marriage. She thought of Briar’s time with him as an investment that needed protecting. However, after seeing him walking with Sadie yesterday, Briar wasn’t so sure.