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It had only been two days since Mr Boot had left on the ferry but already she missed his company. She had only known him a short time and hadn’t expected him to make such an impact on her life. She needed to write a reply to him but hadn’t managed to finish a letter that she was happy enough to post.
Florence had turned down a couple of invitations from Albert since Mr Boot’s departure but was beginning to feel unkind to cancel their latest pre-arranged engagement to visit the Theatre Royal to attend one of the shows.
Albert was a kind man and a good friend. She didn’t want to let him down again, so when he had popped in from the tea merchants earlier that day to deliver some tea for her mother, she had agreed to go with him and several other friends to a poetry reading.
Florence went up to the living room and offered her mother some assistance making supper.
‘No, thank you,’ her mother said. ‘That won’t be necessary. We’re only having pork chops and boiled potatoes. It won’t take a moment to prepare and will be ready shortly.’
Her mother came out of the kitchen, drying her hands and taking off her apron. ‘Amy mentioned that you received a letter in today’s post.’ She didn’t look very happy and Florence knew that her mother assumed it could be from Mr Boot.
‘Yes, that’s right,’ she said. ‘I’ll quickly go to my room and freshen up.’
Not wishing to wait a moment longer, she ran upstairs. She wasn’t sure what to write in reply but did not want to delay her letter to him in case he thought her uninterested in their correspondence. If she hurried and wrote back to him, he would probably receive it in the next day or so. She sat at her desk. Taking a piece of her favourite cream writing paper, she picked up her pen and began to write.
27 Queen Street
St Helier
Jersey
Channel Islands
4 September 1885
Mr J Boot
16–20 Goose Gate
Nottingham
Dear Mr Boot,
Thank you very much for your letter. I, too, enjoyed our outings and wish that you did not have to cut short your holiday on the island and go home to the mainland at such short notice.
I am happy to hear that you plan to visit us again. I will endeavour to make a list of the places you might like to see and the best places to enjoy a pleasant meal, or a dance. But there is still so much of the island that I have yet to show you.
You also haven’t been to the north of the island, which is a little more dramatic than the south, with cliff faces that are breathtaking to look at. We could probably take a horse-drawn taxi out to the splendid breakwater at St Catherine’s.
Please send my best regards to Jane; I hope that she is well.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Your friend, Miss Florence Rowe
She heard her sister leave her bedroom next door and walk down the creaky attic stairs to the main landing for supper. Then her mother’s voice called for her to join them. She was unsure if her sister would come into her room for a quick chat before they went out for the evening. Florence quickly folded her letter and slipped it into an envelope, and wrote Mr Boot’s name and address on the front.
She met up with Albert and her friends for their evening out. It was pleasant enough, although her mind kept wandering to Mr Boot and his letter. She had posted her letter on the way out and could barely wait for his reply to reach her.
Several days later, after surreptitiously checking the post each day, Florence was delighted to spot a letter on the mantelpiece. Her father would have opened his own mail by lunchtime and her mother rarely received mail from anyone. Excitement bubbled in Florence’s stomach. This letter had to be either for either herself or Amy. She walked over to the mantelpiece and picked up the envelope. It was indeed addressed to her.
She couldn’t help feeling surprised that his letters to her had come to mean so much and so quickly.
Florence didn’t want her mother to see that he had written again. She didn’t like to keep things from her family but didn’t see the point in causing her mother any consternation if it wasn’t necessary. She and Mr Boot were merely friends after all, weren’t they? she thought.
Finally, it was her half an hour lunch break, and Florence made an excuse and raced up to her room to read her correspondence.
16–20 Goose Gate
Nottingham
7 September 1885
Miss Florence Rowe
27 Queen Street
St Helier
Jersey
My dear Miss Rowe,
How splendid of you to reply to my letter so quickly and with so much information about your beautiful jewel of an island.
I hope you won’t be offended if I ask you to consider if I may perhaps address you by your first name in future? Please do not hesitate to dismiss this request if it bothers you at all; I would fully understand. If, though, it sits comfortably with you, then please may I ask that you call me Jesse and maybe I may refer to you as Florence?
I am trying to find a time in my calendar where I might have a week or so away from the office to visit Jersey once again. As soon as I do have anything planned, I shall let you know and then maybe we can make further plans about how to spend those carefree days.
My very best wishes, to you Miss Rowe.
Yours very sincerely,
Mr Boot (Jesse)
Florence checked her old mantel clock. She didn’t have time to write her reply, so put aside his letter for consideration later. She had no qualms about them using their first names to address each other. Weren’t they good friends by now? A niggling thought crept into her mind. How would her parents take to this knowledge, especially her mother? She, Florence was sure, would not be as keen to think of her daughter being on first-name terms with a man she had not known for very long. After all, it wasn’t as if they were courting.
Going back to the shop, she approached her father with an idea that she had been brooding over for the past few days.
‘I was wondering if you would let me rearrange the back of shop display table. I thought I could move it further forward and change the way we arrange the display slightly.’
He looked askance at her. ‘Whatever for? It’s always been in the same place.’
She didn’t like to offend him by arguing but was determined to try out her plan. ‘I can’t help thinking that if we moved it further forward and pushed the one in front slightly to the right, that it would make it easier to see from the window. It would also be easier to walk around and look at the books from each side of the table.’
She braced herself for his annoyance, surprised when it didn’t come. ‘Why not? Those books have always been the one to sell the least, even when they are the more appealing to the customers. Amy can help you move the table after closing and you can then redo the display in whatever way you choose.’
Stunned, she nodded her agreement. ‘Yes, thank you,’ she said quickly, before he had a chance to change his mind. She took a deep breath to quell her rising excitement. She was determined to prove to him how well her ideas would work.
He took hold of both his jacket lapels and stared at her. ‘You have a good head for business, Florence, especially for a woman.’
His comment jarred on her. She knew he didn’t mean to be unkind but was aware he would never say such a thing to her brother Willie. However, she mused, she couldn’t help being pleased with his compliment, no matter how backhanded it might be.
‘I will allow you to leave it that way for a week and if it doesn’t make any difference to the sales then you’ll need to move it back to where it was.’
After rearranging the table and redoing the display, Florence was too tired to reply to Jesse. So, it wasn’t until the end of the following day that she was able to do so. She didn’t mind because this time she had something exciting to tell him. It would be interesting to see what he thought of her idea in the shop and the results after only one day. Would he be impressed with her acumen? She hoped so. He seemed to treat her almost like an equal already in other matters, and for him to see her as something other than a lightheaded woman would please her very much.
27 Queen Street
St Helier
Jersey
10 September 1885
Mr J Boot
16–20 Goose Gate
Nottingham
Dear Jesse,
Thank you for your most recent letter and, yes, I am happy for you to address me by my first name and I shall, as you see from the beginning of this letter, address you in the same way.
I am very much looking forward to your second holiday here. I was wondering if you would be interested in visiting some of the local shops? We have two large stores, A De Gruchy and Voisin and Company. They are probably the closest to the large stores in your area and I thought that you might find them of interest. Please do not think I shall be offended if you would rather not go to them. I understand that you will be taking time off work and probably will not be wishing to think of such things during your holiday.
There is an interesting adaptation by Mr D’Oyly Carte’s Opera Company of Patience at the Theatre Royal in Gloucester Street. I went to see the show with my sister Amy and a few friends last night. I shall look at the theatre’s programme when I know the dates of your visit and if there is something in it that I believe might interest you, I shall let you know.
The shop has been very busy over the past few days. Father has allowed me to move one of the display tables that was at the back of the shop forward to the front. He only agreed because I kept asking and assuring him that we would sell more books if I made the changes to the shop. To be honest I wasn’t entirely certain that it would work, but I thought it worth a try, and, lo and behold, it did work, and we doubled the sales for those books today. I have to admit that I was very happy that my idea was successful. So was my father, although he didn’t say as much.
I look forward to hearing from you again.
Very best wishes,
Yours sincerely, your good friend,
Florence Rowe
Chapter 7 (#ulink_b8c06728-6477-5510-b557-e12aa5e50e56)
The following days passed slowly. Florence was at a loss to how different she felt about her days. Until meeting Mr Boot, or Jesse, as she still was trying to get used to calling him, she had been carefree and excited to attend concerts, go on outings and generally spend her free time with her friends. Since her days out with him and then his subsequent departure, she seemed only to work and wait for the postman to bring the mail, and then, if his delivery did not include a letter from Jesse, her day was marred and grey.
She glanced up at the wall clock above the counter in the shop for the twentieth time that morning, willing the time to pass until the postman’s arrival.
‘What is so urgent that you keep staring at that clock all the time?’ her father asked, his right index finger placed on his account book where to hold his place in his additions. ‘Is there somewhere you wish to be?’
Embarrassed to have been caught out, she shook her head. ‘Do you think the post is a little late today?’
He was about to answer when the door opened, and the brass bell announced a customer’s arrival. Forgetting his conversation with Florence, he focused his attention on serving the lady and her daughter who were looking for a birthday present for an acquaintance. Florence couldn’t help noticing that the lady appeared almost tearful and waited to see if she needed to provide the lady with a glass of water.
‘I’ve brought Mother here to distract her,’ the younger woman announced. ‘My brother and his wife left the island yesterday to emigrate to New Zealand.’ The older woman sniffed before dabbing her eyes with a corner of her handkerchief.
‘I’m sorry to hear your son has chosen to leave Jersey,’ her father said, ‘but I’ve known of quite a few people over the past few years to take advantage of the offer of free passage for a chance to own their own land and start a new life there. I feel sure his prospects are good.’
‘I’ll miss him terribly though, Mr Rowe.’
‘Yes,’ her father said sympathetically. ‘That is understandable.’
‘This is a second family member to travel to the other side of the world,’ she said, blowing her nose. ‘My uncle and his family left for Australia about thirty years ago when I was a girl. That was due to the gold rush, but we’ve lost contact with them over time.’
‘I’m certain you won’t lose contact with your son. He is a fine man. Many times he came here to find small gifts for you, as well as sourcing his own stationery items.’
Florence wondered if she could ever move from Jersey. It wasn’t something she had thought about much before, but having discovered more about Nottingham recently, it was occurring to her more and more that if she truly wanted to, she could embark on a new life away from the island. The thought excited her. She might think of herself as a modern woman, but was she brave enough to move away from here and start up a business elsewhere? She wasn’t certain, but it was something she was determined to consider.
‘He loved visiting this shop, Mr Rowe,’ the woman explained.
Florence was relieved that the lady’s attention had been diverted and immediately reverted to tidying the displays, relieved for the interruption. This letter was even more important than the others, she mused. She knew it probably shouldn’t matter, but she felt the need for his approval of her changes to her father’s shop that she had described to him in her most recent correspondence. For some reason, his reaction meant more to her than she had at first presumed.
A few minutes later the bell jangled once more and looking up, Florence saw Albert greet her father as he quickly made his way over to her.
‘I shan’t be long,’ he said, glancing over his shoulder at her father. ‘A few of us are buying tickets to attend a musical concert at the Royal Yacht Hotel. I thought you and Amy might like to join us. I think it will be a popular evening and we will need to purchase the tickets before they sell out.’ He glanced at her father once again. ‘It will be good to see you again, Florence. We’ve missed your company lately.’
Florence couldn’t help feeling guilty. She had declined several outings with her friends and even cancelled going to a recital the previous week. She hadn’t liked to let them down, but since Jesse’s departure, she hadn’t felt much like socialising. ‘Yes, I’d very much like to join you. Thank you, Albert.’
‘Will you ask Amy for me if she would also like to come along?’
‘Yes, I will, but I’m certain she will want to join us, so do please buy her a ticket when you purchase mine.’
She liked that he didn’t ask her why she had been absent recently. She needed to keep herself busy and decided that the days would pass until Jesse’s return far more quickly if she kept up her usual social activities.
Jesse Boot. How had this pleasant, hard-working man made such an impact on her life? He had only ever been friendly to her. Never made any promises, or gestures to her that gave her any hope for anything between them in the future. Hadn’t she always determined to remain unmarried and shared the intention with Amy many times? However, for all that she missed him and his conversation far more than she expected.
‘Jesse Boot,’ she whispered. ‘What have you done to make me think of you so constantly?’
She was on her way upstairs to her bedroom to freshen up before lunch when her mother stepped out in front of her from the living room into the hallway.
‘I’d like a word with you, Florence,’ she said quietly, standing back so that Florence had no option but to do as her mother requested. She walked into the room, a little disconcerted when her mother closed the door behind her.
‘Is something the matter?’ she asked, hoping her mother wasn’t going to ask about Jesse. She had seen her mother’s expression when Florence had answered a few of her father’s questions about Jesse one evening. She had hoped her mother hadn’t heard when she had accidentally referred to Jesse by his Christian name in the conversation, instead of calling him Mr Boot.
‘It is,’ her mother replied, folding her arms across her chest. ‘I have noticed letters arriving from Mr Boot every few days. I can only presume that as you are corresponding with each other that you are becoming closer.’
‘I suppose we are.’ What could her mother possibly be concerned about? She and her father knew the man well. They were both aware that he was a perfectly pleasant man and someone of a trustworthy nature.
‘I’ve also learned that you were supposed to accompany Albert to a concert the other evening but cancelled at the last minute.’ She frowned disapprovingly. ‘I don’t expect rude behaviour from you, Florence.’
