fellow to a duel, or goodness knows what!’
Sophie laughed. ‘You found a jacket then?’ she asked, relieved to change the subject.
‘Of course! Though we had a bit of a narrow squeak when we nearly bumped into someone wandering around down in the basement. Billy looked jolly worried.’
‘I think he’s frightened of getting into trouble with Mr Cooper.’
‘I can’t think why everyone’s so terrified about that,’ said Lil. ‘Cooper is such an old stick. That stern manner of his is just an act.’
‘Doesn’t anyone intimidate you?’ Sophie asked, shaking her head in astonishment.
‘Lord, yes!’ exclaimed Lil. ‘Miss Pinker, the headmistress of my old school. Frightful creature. And I have to say, I was rather terrified when I did my audition for the show. I had to get up and sing in front of the director, Gilbert Lloyd. He’s simply the tops when it comes to musical comedy – and dreadfully handsome too. I was absolutely quaking in my boots! Anyway, I can’t have been that awful because I got the part. Of course I’m only in the chorus. I’m about the least important person there is in the whole place, to tell the truth. But it might be my chance – a real chance to be an actress!’
Behind them, the girls at Edith’s table had their heads close together whispering and were casting curious glances over at Lil. Sophie felt a sudden wave of relief sweep over her. When she had arrived at the store that morning she had felt entirely alone here, but at last she seemed to have found a friend. She smiled across the table at Lil, feeling almost light-hearted for the first time in many weeks.
‘It sounds marvellous,’ she said. ‘Tell me all about it.’
As the final day of preparations went on, the pace began to accelerate. Men in white gloves were busy in the Exhibition Hall, unpacking crates with mechanical precision. In the Entrance Hall, Mr Cooper and Sidney Parker were engaged in an intense discussion about the best deployment of porters, lift-operators and doormen. In the Ladies’ Lounge, bunches of perfect roses were being arranged in crystal vases, and in the Marble Court Restaurant, the waiters smoothed out snowy white linen tablecloths and laid out silverware, the restaurant manager following behind them with a tape measure to ensure that each setting was perfect.
Up in the Millinery Department, the main activities were dusting, sweeping and polishing. Unused to such physical work, Sophie soon found herself weary and aching, but she went on working grimly, determined not to let Edith see that she was tired. All the same, as the afternoon drew on, she was pleased to see Lil appear, giving her a welcome excuse to get up from her polishing.
‘So this is where you work?’ said Lil, looking around her with interest. ‘Gosh, it’s all rather splendid, isn’t it? They sent me up to collect some more hats for the dress show rehearsal.’
Sophie nodded. ‘They’re through in the storeroom,’ she said, leading the way. ‘I’ll show you.’
Once the storeroom door had closed behind them, they grinned at each other conspiratorially.
‘I was simply bursting for a change of scenery,’ said Lil. ‘They wanted to send for a porter – Captain’s Girls aren’t supposed to be running about the store with boxes, and all that, but I insisted on coming myself. Honestly, I can’t tell you how fearfully boring it is, just practising walking up and down in different frocks.’
‘It sounds an awful lot better than polishing,’ said Sophie with a laugh, as she handed Lil the hat-boxes she needed.
‘Well, yes, I suppose you’re probably right there,’ said Lil, grinning ruefully. ‘I really oughtn’t grumble. And at least tomorrow morning I’ll be off to the theatre for rehearsals. We don’t have to come in until after luncheon now, you see, because the dress shows will only be in the afternoons, so it’s all worked out splendidly.’ She paused, and then heaved a sigh. ‘Well, I suppose I should go. They’ll be waiting for me.’
‘And I ought to get on with that polishing,’ Sophie agreed, stretching and stifling a yawn. ‘Mrs Milton really has our noses to the grindstone.’
They both went towards the door – but when Sophie tried the handle, it wouldn’t budge.
‘Is it stuck? Here, let me try.’
But it wasn’t stuck. No matter how much either of them jiggled at the door handle, it would not open.
‘I think it’s locked,’ said Lil in astonishment.
‘This is Edith’s doing,’ said Sophie, with a slow groan of realisation. ‘She must have seen us come in here and then locked the door.’
‘But why would she do that?’
‘To get us both into trouble, of course,’ said Sophie. ‘To stop me from finishing my work, and make Mrs Milton angry, and to pay us back for that business in the refectory earlier.’
‘Oh I say!’ cried Lil indignantly.
Sophie felt her own temper flare. If she didn’t finish the tasks she had been set, she could say goodbye to any chance of becoming Mrs Milton’s assistant. And now Lil would be in trouble too, and none of this was in the least bit her fault!
But there was no sense in losing her head, she reminded herself. ‘Maybe one of the others will let us out. Let’s see if we can get their attention before anyone notices we’re missing.’
They rattled the door, and called out, but no one came.
‘They probably can’t hear us if they’re on the other side of the shop floor,’ said Sophie. ‘And I daresay Edith’s out there laughing at us right now.’
‘What a beast,’ said Lil crossly. ‘We are in a scrape.’ Then, in a sudden burst of cheerfulness: ‘I suppose at least you get a break from all that polishing, anyway.’
‘Oh bother her,’ said Sophie, folding her arms. ‘Well, I suppose if we’re stuck in here, we may as well do something useful. Let’s bring that ladder over and we can put all those boxes away. We can get the storeroom tidied, at any rate.’
Lil readily agreed, feeling that going up and down ladders and putting away boxes would certainly be no worse than clambering in and out of evening dresses. While they worked, they talked. Lil told Sophie about all the plays she had seen recently, including the plot of a most exciting thriller in which a dashing detective (‘So handsome! Simply divine!’) had managed to escape from a locked room and foil a dastardly gang of spies, and that of a heart-rending romance in which the young heroine experienced all sorts of trials before finally being reunited with her true love. They ended up sitting on the floor, talking about books that they had read, and laughing about their old governesses. Lil told Sophie all about her parents and how irritating it was that her older brother could do exactly what he wanted (‘just because he’s a boy !’); and how she didn’t think she would much like being a mannequin (‘Imagine all those beastly old ladies looking you up and down’), but she wanted to be independent and couldn’t get by on her meagre earnings as a chorus girl alone.
‘But what about you? How did you come to be working here?’ Lil asked Sophie at last.
Sophie
