Alice looked up suddenly at the sound of the female voice. She was thoroughly surprised that the voice belonged to Miss Arabella Mudd, of the nude actress fame. If it could be called that."Why, hello, Arabella. I think we were just about to finish up here, not too sure that I actually accomplished anything, really." She explained.
"I am after a wedding gown, and just having a dickens of a time trying to explain what it is I want." She continued, "Mister Pettigrew here even suggested I see some of those that he made for you, but here you are. How fortuitous for me that you are here. Now, what I was telling Mister Pettigrew, rather poorly, I'm afraid, was that I want a dress that a mine owner's bride would be married in. We're doing quite well, and he has another mine that will be coming online soon enough.
"Now I had thought that I'd need dresses as a professional man's wife as well, and probably conveyed that all wrong as well. This is not something I am accustomed to doing." She looked a bit lost.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Why, hello, Arabella. I think we were just about to finish up here, not too sure that I actually accomplished anything, really." She explained.
"Whatever is the problem, Miss Fletcher?" asked the Mudd girl tipping her head enquiringly.
"I am after a wedding gown, and just having a dickens of a time trying to explain what it is I want" she continued.
"Awwww" Arabella gave the other woman a sympathetic pout.
"Mister Pettigrew here even suggested I see some of those that he made for you, but here you are. How fortuitous for me that you are here. Now, what I was telling Mister Pettigrew, rather poorly, I'm afraid, was that I want a dress that a mine owner's bride would be married in. We're doing quite well, and he has another mine that will be coming online soon enough."
Arabella wondered if, before very long, there wouldn't be not just another little mine on the way, but something else, too.
"So, you think these designs are a little too froo-froo?" she asked, indicating the fashion plates on the tale. Not a professional dressmaking term, to be sure, but one that got her meaning across. "Kinda too fussy?"
"Now I had thought that I'd need dresses as a professional man's wife as well, and probably conveyed that all wrong as well. This is not something I am accustomed to doing." She looked a bit lost.
"Stay there!" Arabella beamed and ran out the door; she could be heard calling down the stairs to Jemima to come and help her change.
A little later, the door cracked open again and the little actress walked in with the plainest possible slim white sheath of a dress wrapped around her lithe form and the clumsy looking Jemima following behind, like a sorry excuse for a bridesmaid.
Worcester Pettigrew spluttered "But that's not even a full dress! That's just the base which I build the dress on top of!" he cried, the whole idea of wearing such a simple affair as a wedding dress blowing his Mid-Victorian mind!
On orders from Arabella, Alice remained where she was, unsure of how all of this was going to work out. But she decided she would trust Arabella, who did seem to have good fashion sense, not that she believed she did not, but for a stylish wedding gown, which would be virgin ground for her, as her last wedding gown had been a sack dress.
Now, the idea of proper attire for business meetings? Again, there were not many professional women in Kalispell to model herself after. She did want to look presentable for her husband in that regard. She was just about to say something to Wus when the door creaked open again, and in tromped Arabellea in a white sheath dress
Worcester Pettigrew spluttered "But that's not even a full dress! That's just the base which I build the dress on top of!" he cried, the whole idea of wearing such a simple affair as a wedding dress blowing his Mid-Victorian mind!
"It is so beautiful, the way it flows!" Alice gushed, "And you would build a dress onto this as the base?" Again, this was a trade term that she had never heard of before. "Tell me, Mister Pettigrew, what could it look like?" She asked, ideas already forming in her head, whatever it was called, it had caught hold of her!
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"It is so beautiful, the way it flows!" Alice gushed, "And you would build a dress onto this as the base?" Again, this was a trade term that she had never heard of before. "Tell me, Mister Pettigrew, what could it look like?" She asked, ideas already forming in her head, whatever it was called, it had caught hold of her!
But Arabella just gave a tinkling laugh.
"No, no, no, Miss Fletcher, this IS the dress! It's simplicity itself - so plain that it serves merely as a frame for your beauty!" It was not so much a suggestion as a dictat. She caught sight of herself in a mirror and yelped "Oh!! And maybe something around the head - a simple garland of daisies or..." she deftly grabbed a white table cloth that covered a side table upon which were various knickknacks and curios and did the old conjuror's trick of whipping it off while the objects remained on the table.
Well, most of them.
She swiftly wrapped the cloth around her bonce and balanced a ringlet of ceramicflowers on top to hold it down, so that one side dangled down: the effect was rather good, in an eastern, arabesque sort of way.
"See?!" she drawled, quite pleased with herself.
"Oh yes, yes I do. I had seen veils on women at other weddings; my wedding was rather plain. No gown or new dress for the occasion. My husband didn't even have a suit, rest his soul." She admitted. "Times were hard back then, not so long ago, today? It is completely different. You know, Speed saved my father during the war, and we remained friends afterward."
"Yes, I could see a dress like this for my wedding, with a veil and a flowered whatever you call it. Mister Perttigrew, how can you make this gown special? How can you 'build' something just for me?" She was quick to ask of the M
aster dressmaker. The whole idea of a wedding gown had engulfed her. Thanks to Arabellea's timely intrusion, the whole world of fashion was about to engulf Alice Fletcher as it had engulfed women since the beginning of time.
"This will be so special, and the dresses that I will need in the future." Yes, fully engulfed!
