She paused and glanced up to see how her words were landing, adding with a smile, "If you really want an opinion from me, I'll make something up."
Hettie laughed and added "... and believe me, Mister Steelgrave, Tilly can be very inventive when she puts her mind to it."
Something occurred to her.
"Say, what about Fortner's place? I mean, at the moment we pick up a lot of customers in the Stardust, I guess we'll be strategically withdrawing our forces on that front..." she sounded like General Grant planning a campaign "Are you going to talk to him about your plans or do we just push on in secret and let him find out about it when he walks in one Evening and there's none of us in there, working the place, and half his customers are over here?" she wondered. Not that she gave two figs for Fortner, but she was curious as to Steelgrave's approach to such matters.
She knew that Sally Adams had some sort of agreement with the owner of the Stardust, maybe even a written contract, but a good rifling of Sally's papers hadn't yielded that. Still, another good reason why it would be mighty convenient for the old bawd to be the next unfortunate victim of the Kalispell Strangler.
@[Flip]
He chuckled at the mention of the saloon and Fortner. "Hettie, my dear, I do belioeve that I will stop in and let him know that I have bought this place and that I intend to cut into his trade, as well as the Lickskillet's and the hotel's business, but there won't be much of a drop off for the cafe, nor the hotel, not as much as the saloons." He smiled at her. "The cafe and the hotel serve a different clientele than we will, and not only will we poach the saloon's business, we will host a higher class than the saloon, but as long as people behave and follow the rules, everything will be fine. Just fine. Tilly dear, and inventive is a favorite of mine." She was the star attraction, and that would not change.
"Once the railroad is through here, whenever that is, there will be a higher class that will need tending to. Men here on business with the mines, wanting to start up, or move their business here. Fortner and Priest are not equipped to meet that need. And before you ask, yes, if push comes to shove, we will shove much harder than they can. They won't want that any more than we will. I mean to say, neither they nor we want the notoriety a feud would bring." He smiled knowingly at the two ladies,
"I will be wiring a contact of mine in Kansas City about importing some girls. Nothing is wrong with the ones we have, which will be too few before long. Best to have variety, I'm thinking. And, the best girls, of course."
"I was born the day after Valentine's, but I don't guess I'll ever find a valentine of my own."
Although she listened carefully to what Elias was saying, Tilly wasn't so much interested in the politics of expanding and cutting into the saloon's business as she was the littler details. She paced a little way across the room, thinking, before turning back to Elias.
"How long do you think it will be before we're able to get new girls in? We'll need to make sure we have rooms and beds for them all. And they'll either need to have their own wardrobes or we'll need to contract with Mr. Pettigrew to make sure they're all outfitted suitably. A contract with him might not be a bad thing anyway. He certainly knows how to make me look my best, don't you think?"
Here Tilly smoothed the folds of her sage green dress and gave Elias a look which was at once innocent and calculating. Calculatingly innocent, one might say.
"I will be wiring a contact of mine in Kansas City about importing some girls. Nothing is wrong with the ones we have, which will be too few before long. Best to have variety, I'm thinking. And, the best girls, of course."
Nothing wrong with the girls they'd got? Besides her and Tilly, they'd got a teenage boy in a frock and a skinny farm girl with a big bump in front. Steelgrave was right, but it chaffed the control freak inside of Hettie Rosenkranz to have him send for the replacements. Tilly distracted her from these frustrating feelings by asking a sensible question.
"How long do you think it will be before we're able to get new girls in? We'll need to make sure we have rooms and beds for them all. And they'll either need to have their own wardrobes or we'll need to contract with Mr. Pettigrew to make sure they're all outfitted suitably. A contract with him might not be a bad thing anyway. He certainly knows how to make me look my best, don't you think?"
"He supplies all our underwear too!" added Hettie, running over and pulling up Tilly' skirts to display the most darling little slippers, stripey stockings, a la mode, and delicate silken drawers. "Contrary to popular belief, we do wear them" she said, caressing Tilly's legs "... they do look so pretty when they're pulled down... or ripped off" she added.
She wasn't just doing this for fun... with new girls coming in, it was important to establish their ascendancy over the parvenus: and the best way to do that was to establish Tilly as Steelgrave's mistress. Of course, if he was a tit man, Hettie realised, rather than a leg man, she might be putting the wrong goods in the store window!
"Maybe you'd like Miss Burke to remove her dress, Mister Steelgrave? So you can properly assess the quality of Mister Pettigrew's corsets?" Hettie helpfully offered. And if a couple of dumplin's should inadvertently pop out of said corsetry, well, all to the good.
"How long do you think it will be before we're able to get new girls in? We'll need to make sure we have rooms and beds for them all. And they'll either need to have their own wardrobes or we'll need to contract with Mr. Pettigrew to make sure they're all outfitted suitably. A contract with him might not be a bad thing anyway. He certainly knows how to make me look my best, don't you think?"
"Yes, Miss Burke, he certainly does that. And I would not be opposed to contracting with Mister Pettigrew to, in fact, dress the lot of you." Elias responded, "This place will be first cabin all the way. We will have businessmen as regular clients, men of means, you understand. Which brings to mind your question, Tilly, I must wire Kansas City to inquire about the girls. Now, understand, my contact has business arrangements in N'awlins, San Francisco, as well as Austin, Texas. So most of those are connected by rail to somewhere close to here." He explained.
"And yes, by all men's, do remove the dress," He continued, "In fact, I may have to visit him about some new suits. Probably after I visit the Stardust and talk with Fortnert, and the girls arrive, things will remain as they are, unless he has a different idea. Until construction is completed, then, we will discuss the saloon trade."
"I was born the day after Valentine's, but I don't guess I'll ever find a valentine of my own."
Tilly was finding it quite hard to keep from acting ecstatic. She'd had a good idea, and one that Elias approved of! She lived for other's approval, whether it was Hettie's, a customer's, or their new owner's. There were no schemes in her head like there were in Hettie's. She just wanted to avoid further hardship in her life.
She simmered her relief down to a happy nod as Elias explained the situation with getting new girls. It seemed it might be hard to put a certain date on the thing, which was fine by Tilly as long as she wouldn't have to be the one scrambling to find places for all the girls if they did happen to arrive at the same time.
But what was this? Mr. Steelgrave wanted her to take off her dress. She smoothed her skirts one more time and smiled indulgently. "Hettie, be a dear and help me out of this dress, would you?" Of course, she was perfectly capable of undressing herself, but the effect sometimes was better if someone else did it. She could simply stand and look pretty as Pettigrew's beautiful dress slid off her body, revealing her equally beautiful undergarments.
"Yes. I can see the quality of the man's work in the undergarments as well as the gowns. I had heard that he did remarkable work. Now I am convinced." He said, praising the workmanship that was covering the woman's body. "Indeed, I will need to look into some new suits from him. If you would prefer, you can certainly put the dress back on."
His mind was taken up with plans, interior redesign plans. "How many rooms have we got already? I would like to know how many we will need. For the new girls, once we get them here, no sense in trying to double them up. I mean, those rooms are where you girls live. Right?" He smiled, "I think maybe we add three, maybe four more experienced ladies, of perhaps different ethnicities, to spice things up. And the prices will rise accordingly."
He paused a moment.
"Now, as to the Stardust, I believe that we can continue to service the needs of the place, if there isn't a contract in place, perhaps we can negotiate one. If Fortner is opposed to that, so be it. They are not my problem. What is the current fee for your services? I assume you offer most everything? Is there a scale as to what is provided?" Questions, a lot of questions.
Hettie helped Tilly strip down to her bare essentials, but it didn't have quite the effect either of the women had hoped for: Elias didn't fall madly in lust with the beautiful young prostitute, he actually examined the quality of her corsets!
"Yes. I can see the quality of the man's work in the undergarments as well as the gowns. I had heard that he did remarkable work. Now I am convinced." He said, praising the workmanship that was covering the woman's body. "Indeed, I will need to look into some new suits from him. If you would prefer, you can certainly put the dress back on."
Blast it all! It was like trying to seduce an abacus!
The point was, if one of these new girls coming in took Steelgrave's fancy and neither of them did... well, cathouses were full of more power struggles and bids for influence than the courts of Byzantium or Renaissance Italy! If another girl gained ascendancy over them in the heart of the boss, their lives wouldn't be worth living.
His mind was taken up with plans, interior redesign plans. "How many rooms have we got already? I would like to know how many we will need. For the new girls, once we get them here, no sense in trying to double them up. I mean, those rooms are where you girls live. Right?"
Well, if you could call it living!
"We'll show you around, so you can see for yourself!" Hettie offered, and suggested to Tilly "Just leave your corsets on, you'll only have to take that dress off again later when your regulars come knocking."
"So... er, how many extra girls are you thinking of sending for, Mr Steelgrave?" asked Hettie as they showed him around the place. Maybe by asking him a few questions, she could get an idea about what aroused his erotic interest.
He smiled, "I think maybe we add three, maybe four more experienced ladies, of perhaps different ethnicities, to spice things up. And the prices will rise accordingly."
Ah, maybe he liked blacks or chinks, if she'd known, she'd have tarted up their black maid, Nancy Jane, and she and Tilly could have taken it easy.
He paused a moment.
"Now, as to the Stardust, I believe that we can continue to service the needs of the place, if there isn't a contract in place, perhaps we can negotiate one. If Fortner is opposed to that, so be it. They are not my problem. What is the current fee for your services? I assume you offer most everything? Is there a scale as to what is provided?" Questions, a lot of questions.
"Fortner takes 10% of any trick we pick up there, that's about 60% of our current number of clients, of course that varies week by week. But I can show you the exact figures; believe it or not, I kept strict accounts for Mrs Adams." Hettie had never prepared a meal in her life, but she was a dab hand at cooking the books.
"As for a scale, well, it depends on what the feller wants and, well, the important thing is, for how long. Time is money in this business, Mr Streelgrave. An experienced girl like Tilly here or myself can usually hurry things along. Why I've had fellers lose their...er...cargo, right here where we are now, halfway up the stairs. Of course, they still have to pay... they pay up or Erik gets nasty." she affirmed, referring to their bouncer. She shrugged "Not that that's usually an issue, they want to pay up and get out as quickly as possible after their embarrassing little 'accident'" she chuckled a little maliciously.
"What I want to do is upgrade, upgrade everything from the rooms the girls I've in to the services provided, meals, liquor, and of course, the cost for the romps with our girls. But none will shine brighter, or cost more than our own Tilly here. How much were you charging for a poke, as the cowhands call it?" He asked.
"Now, I have considered you two as my partners in this project of ours. Now, which means we don't cheat each other, as I guarantee you, there will be plenty of money for everyone. No extra set of books that says one thing while the other tells a different story. Do we understand each other? I will guarantee you the best that can be offered, as far as living and working conditions are concerned, and the highest wages in your profession. Plus, we will settle on a weekly salary above what you make working."
"Oh, the rubes and cow opuncg[hers in this town will not bring that, but once the railroad comes through, and we weather that storm, then it will be high class clientele from then on. Businessmen from the east as well as the west will pour through here like fine wine. We will be the place in Montana that they come looking for. I promise you that, and you'll likely retire to a big city with more money than creases. I have contacts where you can invest your money and watch it grow. So then, what do you say to this plan?
@Bailey @Javia