"Oh I...well my family have not gone to church here in Kalispell. You see we are Jewish and there is no synagogue around here of course," she could leave out her family also were not exactly fervent Jews.
Leonora's smile probably looked a little frozen on her face and her eyes were probably bigger and rounder than usual, but at least she managed not to faint. Jewish! Ughh, poor child. Yes, once you knew, you could see it in the features. Well, there was nothing Leonora could do about the girl's race, but she knew her duty as far as religion went and devoutly remembered the Jewish peoples' peculiar claims upon the sympathies and prayers of all Gentile Christians. Here was a chance to 'partake in the glorious work of hastening the day when the superscription of the Cross shall be the confession of all Israel' as her church elders would say.
"Well..." she began, turning a sympathetic smile upon Miriam "Should you wish to accompany your friend Miss Mudd to Church on Sunday, under no compunction to join in Christian worship, of course, but merely to attend as a... a fellow member of the community, please do come and sit with me in our pew. You would be more than welcome." she gushed, giving Miriam a kindly touch to the arm: in no fear of being infected with her Jewishness, but rather hoping some first tingling infusion of Christ's holy spirit might be planted as a tiny but goodly seed in the girl's soul. Laying on of hands, as it were.
This is just what Leonora needed. A project.
Miriam would have been aghast to know she was now a 'project' but fortunately she was clueless on that subject. In fact she thought the woman took he revelation very calmly.
"Well..." she began, turning a sympathetic smile upon Miriam "Should you wish to accompany your friend Miss Mudd to Church on Sunday, under no compunction to join in Christian worship, of course, but merely to attend as a... a fellow member of the community, please do come and sit with me in our pew. You would be more than welcome." she gushed, giving Miriam a kindly touch to the arm.
"Oh, no thank you. It is kind of you to offer but I am certain my father would not want me to do any such thing. I am so glad though that Arabella is so devout, what with her organ playing and singing. She talks about it with such...enthusiasm."
Of course left unsaid, most subjects she talks about are with the same enthusiasm. Her sheer energy is one of the things Miriam liked about the girl.
It took a few more minutes for Ella to work out the particulars of her deal with Pettigrew. When she was done she went back into the store and selected some fabric. Since the salesgirl was busy with Lenora, Pettigrew served her.
After purchasing the fabric, she went up to Leonora, "I'm ready to go back to my brothers. If you wish to stay longer, that's fine. However, I would like to thank you for bringing me here just in case we're gone by the time you get back."
"Oh, no thank you. It is kind of you to offer but I am certain my father would not want me to do any such thing. I am so glad though that Arabella is so devout, what with her organ playing and singing. She talks about it with such...enthusiasm."
"Yes. We must always obey our fathers" agreed Lee, but then remembered "Yet I cannot but help remember the last words my father said to me when I was a little girl, just before he died. He looked at me and he said 'Leonora, mein liebes kleines Mädchen, Sag niemals nie' which, as you probably know, means 'Leonora, my dear little child, never say never'" She looked a little teary eyed for a moment and then pulled herself together.
"Oh, but you are right about Miss Mudd's enthusiasm, and it would be a pity if you could not witness the way she plays on that harmonium. I am constantly surprised by the sounds that she manages to get out of it."
Then it was back to business, she pulled off the too tight gloves, with some difficulty, and asked Miriam if they had them in a bigger size. By the time Mr Pettigrew had finished helping Ella with her purchases, Miriam had made a sale.
After purchasing the fabric, she went up to Leonora, "I'm ready to go back to my brothers. If you wish to stay longer, that's fine. However, I would like to thank you for bringing me here just in case we're gone by the time you get back."
"Oh, that it quite all right, I shall walk with you." replied Leonora, but before she went nodded to the store owner "Good day to you, Mr. Pettigrew, and my compliments on your new assistant, Miss Kaufmann has been most helpful!" She gave Miriam a winning smile and mouthed Remember what I said.
Miriam felt bad for the woman as she related a sad memory of her now deceased father, "My condolences, miss. He sounds like he was a smart man."
As for Arabella, Miriam had to remark, "There is really very little that Ar..Miss Mudd does that surprises me." She meant that as a compliment.
After the light conversation, Miriam scored a sale on top of it as the woman purchased some gloves. Her employer should be pleased.
And then it was time for the women to leave the place and go on their way, Miss Lutz ending with a compliment about her and also mouthing a reminder to remember what she had said. No doubt regarding a church visit. Miriam nodded but already had made up her mind. She was not about to anger her father by doing such a thing.
"Where are the snows of yesterday" - Villon
With the customers gone, Mr. Pettigrew entered the cloth that he had sold to Ella in the ledger and, while he was there, made Miriam's entry for her.
"What was it, Miss Kaufmann? A pair of kid gloves?" he carefully scribbled in the details, including the detail that she had made the sale. "Hmm, here's a tip..." he motioned a finger in the air, as he often did when he was a about to impart some pearl of wisdom to her.
"Whenever you sell kid gloves, ask the customer if they'd like to buy some special cleaning spirit of turpentine, special offer 50 cents!" He rummaged on a shelf and brought down a fancy bottle of blue glass. "It' just ordinary turps, 10 cents a bucket from the general store, but some ladies'll buy anything as long as it comes in a pretty container." he explained.
"Hmmm, Miss Lutz. Was she trying to get you to go to Church?" Either he had heard them talking or she was a known Evangelist.
Miriam duly reported her sale of the pair of gloves so that her employer could put it down in the books, accurate accounting was important in any business such as this one. He seemed pleased but suddenly informed her he had a 'tip'.
"Oh? Of course, sir," she duly nodded.
"Whenever you sell kid gloves, ask the customer if they'd like to buy some special cleaning spirit of turpentine, special offer 50 cents!" He rummaged on a shelf and brought down a fancy bottle of blue glass.
"Fifty cents?" that seemed expensive to her reckoning, though she could hardly claim any expertise in such things.
"It' just ordinary turps, 10 cents a bucket from the general store, but some ladies'll buy anything as long as it comes in a pretty container."
"I see," she duly noted though to her it did seem a bit.......dishonest? Still he was the boss, far be it for her to challenge him, "I will remember that in the future, sir."
"Hmmm, Miss Lutz. Was she trying to get you to go to Church?"
Miriam had not seen that coming alright.
"She mentioned how active my friend, Arabella...you know...Miss Mudd...the one who came with Miss Mundee...........is in their church and encouraged me to come sometime to hear and see for myself'" Miriam dutifully answered.
"I told her Papa would not approve." And to her that settled the matter then and there.
"Where are the snows of yesterday" - Villon
"Hmmm, Miss Lutz. Was she trying to get you to go to Church?"
"She mentioned how active my friend, Arabella...you know...Miss Mudd...the one who came with Miss Mundee...........is in their church and encouraged me to come sometime to hear and see for myself'" Miriam dutifully answered.
Pettigrew gave a visible shudder "Oh, if such things are not to your taste I should avoid them at all possible costs!" he warned "For once a body starts to go along, it is often quite impossible to extract oneself again!" He felt like that about the Freemasonry he was involved in: oh there were advantages to be sure, especially in a business way, but it was rather a call on his time these days, and the mysteries he had hoped it would reveal had so far eluded him.
"I told her Papa would not approve." And to her that settled the matter then and there.
"Very good, Miss Kaufmann, very good!" he beamed, patting her on the head "You are a very sensible girl. I only wish I could still say 'My Father would not approve" to get out of such conundrums. And, believe me, there was very little that The Commodore did approve of!" he remembered, fondly. Sometimes Pettigrew had these little little wistful, nostalgic moments when they were talking. Suddenly his eyes looked tearful, and he pulled out his watch and looked at it.
"You have done very well today. Take the rest of the day off, Miss Kaufmann, go and spend some time with your Father. He will not be here forever!" he said, taking out a large hanky and blowing his nose upon it.
Meanwhile, Ella and Leonora had made their way back to the store where Bern and Kurt were. To her surprise, she found them talking to a tall, blonde haired man. Bern introduced the newcomer as Sam Wentworth, a ranch hand at the Lost Lake Ranch.
Ella schooled her features to hide her concern that her brothers had meet someone from the cattle ranch that was near their farm. She knew her brothers wouldn't mention the sheep but still it did concern her.
Hoping to keep the conversation away from what they did, Ella smiled, "Nice to meet you."
She turned to Leonora, "Are you acquainted with Mr. Wentworth?"
Hoping to keep the conversation away from what they did, Ella smiled, "Nice to meet you."
She turned to Leonora, "Are you acquainted with Mr. Wentworth?"
Lee gave a tight smile and a nod in Sam's direction. "Yes, Miss Albrecht, all the farmers in these parts are familiar with the Wentworth's and their bosses Mr Thornton and Mr Hale: we are even more familiar with their cattle, when they stray onto our land and ruin our crops."
Even though she had forebodings about it at the time, now that it was up, she felt like defending their recent erection of barbed wire fences around their land by going on the offensive.
"I am sorry to say that when that happened a few years ago, and my Grandmother requested compensation, Mr Hale told us we could to go to court and sue for damages, fully knowing that we could not well afford such an undertaking: well, now we have the barbed wire up, and if any cattle damage themselves upon it, Mr. Hale can blame himself!"