The kitchen was the best. Marvelous stoves, and a cunning icebox with a spigot that could be used to drain out the water. It was then that Miss Dawson told her she was to help pick out a present for Mrs. O’Rourke. Kathleen knew that she wanted a new roasting pan. The old one was so dented on the bottom it was hard not to burn the gravy. After examining each of the kinds of pans the store sold, she recommended one that seemed sturdy enough to withstand daily use but wasn’t so heavy that poor little Tilly couldn’t lift it. She was really looking forward to when Mrs. O’Rourke unwrapped it Christmas morning.
Then they’d gone to the men’s furnishings department. And that was when she got a chance to see this Robbie Livingston that Mrs. Dawson had mentioned as someone who Mrs. Fournier might have been seeing on the sly. It made sense to Kathleen that the son of the store’s owner might want to hide he was carrying on with a woman who was one of his father’s employees. And unlike with the bookstore manager, Mr. Brown, she understood why Biddy called this man handsome. He looked like one of those actors you saw in the plays, sleek hair brushed back, thick mustache, bright blue eyes framed by long lashes a woman would envy. He needed some feeding up, but Kathleen knew that not all women found broad shoulders like her Patrick’s to their taste.
He was also not nearly as kind as Mr. Brown had been to her. He’d taken one look at her brown tweed and her simple home-decorated hat and dismissed her. He even ignored Miss Dawson, who was wearing her royal blue polonaise, and instead turned all his charm on Miss Blaine. As if he knew to the penny how much her outfit cost. Or maybe it was just the fur trimming on her coat. But Miss Blaine, a sensible Irish girl at heart, despite her great wealth, just laughed at him behind his back and made him hop getting out every cufflink and tie pin the store stocked for her to see. And then didn’t buy any of them.
While this was going on, Miss Dawson bought new embroidered suspenders for Mr. Nate and her other brother, and a lovely leather wallet for her father. And Kathleen found a spiffy blue striped-tie for Patrick for when he was out of uniform. She had just enough money to buy it and some nice handkerchiefs for Tilly. This took care of everyone on her list, because her present for Mrs. O’Rourke was a shawl she’d spent all fall making. The nice boarder, Mrs. Stein, had bought her some special soft wool in two different shades of dark green and helped her plan the pattern. It turned out beautifully, even though it had been hard to keep it secret.
As they stepped out of the elevator onto the second floor, they were surrounded by the most delicious smell of roast beef, and Kathleen’s stomach began to growl. Five o’clock, when she’d had her breakfast, was a long time ago, and she usually had at least a cup of tea and a roll mid-morning. But Miss Dawson wanted to check on Biddy, who was working in the ladies and children’s clothing department, and finish shopping before they went to have lunch.
Kathleen was the first to catch sight of her friend, looking like she’d been working behind a counter all her life as she handed over a brown paper parcel to a large woman who had two small girls clinging to her skirts.
“Miss, how may I help you?” Biddy said when Miss Dawson walked up to her, the broad grin on her face at odds with the serious tone of her voice.
Miss Dawson played along and said, “I would like to look at your wrappers, please.”
“Yes, miss. Do you have any particular requirements in terms of material or style?” Biddy responded, winking broadly at Kathleen, who was having difficulty stifling a giggle at seeing her friend being so prim and proper.
“Something fairly warm and easy to maintain and preferably something that can accommodate a woman who is increasing.”
Seeing Biddy’s surprised look, Miss Dawson hurriedly said, “My brother Billy has asked me to look for one for his wife. They live down in San Jose.”
Kathleen started breathing again, having thought for a moment, like Biddy, that Miss Dawson was talking about their Mrs. Dawson, not the other one. Silly…of course. Her mistress wouldn’t keep a secret like that from her.
Getting a nod of encouragement from a somberly dressed older woman standing a little way down the counter, Biddy had them follow her to a rack holding dressing gowns and wrappers of all sorts, and Miss Dawson and her friend entered into a spirited discussion of what would be more flattering to a small blond like Violet Dawson who was nearing her eighth month.
Biddy wrote up the order once their choice was made. While they waited for a small baby-faced girl to return with the wrapped package and change, Biddy checked to see that no one would overhear her and said, “You just missed the cash girl Cherry. She’s gone on another one of her breaks. But she should be back in about ten minutes…she’s working for Miss Bischoff today, over near the jewelry and perfumes. She’s wearing a bright red dress.”
Kathleen said, “That won’t be hard to miss. Have you seen anything odd…seen her steal anything?”
“Not yet. But she does spend more time flirting with the male porters and that Rutgers, the floorwalker, than working…which means all the rest of the girls have to work twice as hard. Mrs. Martell, the woman in charge of this department, was quite upset when she saw what Cherry was wearing when she reported for work today. But she was very complimentary of my dress.”
As the young cash girl ran back up, Biddy became very formal and said, “Thank you very much for shopping at the Silver Strike Bazaar. Please come again.”
Miss Dawson then said they should next go to the millinery department, which was on this floor, saying that she wanted to get her mother a new hat for Christmas. “She wears this old bonnet she’s had for years…makes her look so dowdy. I know she won’t like one of the new-fangled ones that look like upside-down clamshells, but surely there is something in between. Kathleen, take off your hat and let me try different ones on you so I can picture what my mother will look like.”
Kathleen spent the next half hour delightedly trying on hat after hat, trying not to laugh at some of the oddities Miss Dawson chose. But several of the hats really did look quite nice. They finally all agreed that the straw hat made of a rough weave the color of autumn leaves was just right. It had a moderate circular crown, with a two-inch brim, and the only decorations were a wide dark brown satin ribbon and three quail feathers stuck through the ribbon’s bow at the side.
Before handing this hat over to the clerk, who was pulling out a box to put it in, Miss Dawson picked up another hat and said, “Kathleen, could you put this one on again, just to make sure? It looked so lovely on you. Didn’t you think so, Kitty?”
Kathleen obediently tried the hat on, having secretly coveted it because it looked like it would match the navy tweed wool material the Moffets were making into a dress for her…the Dawson’s Christmas present. It had a high crown in an oval shape, with a brim that curled up on the back and sides and narrowed to almost a point at the front. A lighter blue ribbon tacked down with dark blue artificial flowers went around the bottom of the crown and ended in a complicated bow on one side.
Miss Dawson reached out and tilted the hat on Kathleen’s head. Putting her face next to hers so they looked into the mirror side-by-side, she said, “See, that brings out the blue in your eyes. But I am afraid that my mother would find it too daring. No, I think we made the right choice.”
As Kathleen put the hat down, she peeked at the price written on a tag affixed to the inside of the hat, and her heart sank. She’d been thinking that she might ask Patrick to buy it for her, but it was much too dear.
“Kathleen, would you mind going to take a look at whether you can see if that girl Cherry has returned?” Miss Dawson asked her. “I’m curious now to see what she looks like, and I think that Biddy said she’d be near jewelry. But if she’s not, we might as well go to lunch first, and then if we have time, we can check out that counter later.”
Kathleen, still thinking wistfully about the hat, went out of the millinery department toward the series of counters and shelves that held all sorts of women’s accessories. There were gloves of
dyed cotton, silk, and lace fanned out like the petals of flowers, echoing the vibrant shades of the silk scarves and shawls that were draped appealingly on hooks. There was one whole counter covered with comb and brush sets, with matching button hooks, emery boards, and containers for powders and creams. Another had every possible ornamental clip and comb for decorating a woman’s hair, and she could see piled on the shelves behind that counter stacks of braids and fringes made of hair of different shades to help supplement the hair of those women whose own hair was too thin for the current fashion of fringes and side curls.
She was just feeling grateful that even if she might not be beautiful, she didn’t need to stick someone else’s hair onto her head, when a flash of red and a high pitched giggle caught her attention. Right in front of the counter where the silk hose and garters were sold, a young brunette in a garish red dress had dropped a handful of coins on the floor that went rolling in all directions. The clerk, effusively apologizing to the dignified older gentleman whose change had been dropped, came bustling out from behind the counter to help but was thwarted by Cherry…it had to be the cash girl Cherry…who kept getting in her way, while flirting shamelessly with the old gentleman.
It was so clearly an act that the cash girl was putting on that Kathleen looked around to see if there was anyone else besides herself watching. Two porters were slouched next to a column and laughing at the scene, while other customers and clerks at the counters on either side had stopped to look at the commotion. That was when she noticed a young gentleman casually plucking items from counters and sliding them into some inner pocket of his fashionable overcoat.
Like magic, a gold pocket watch, a couple of earrings, a cameo brooch, a small bottle of perfume, a silver comb and brush set, and one whole fan of expensive silk gloves disappeared, and then he turned and walked steadily to the stairs that led down to the first floor. Tipping his hat and bowing to an elderly lady who was coming up the stairs, he disappeared from view.
Chapter 21
“‘CHRONICLE’ CULLINGS: Christmas trees are looking spruce. Children pine for them.”––San Francisco Chronicle December 26, 1880
Saturday evening, December 11, 1880
The Boston Terrier, Dandy, took great exception to the sudden appearance of an eight-foot fir tree in the middle of the boarding house’s formal parlor. When he’d first pranced into the room, hard on the heels of Jamie Hewitt, he’d simply stopped in astonishment, craning his head upwards, his little brow wrinkling in puzzlement. Then he began to back up, growling, with his fur standing on end all the way down his spine. When Jamie crouched down beside him to soothe him, Dandy gained the courage to stop backing up. Instead, he started to bark defiantly at the tree.
Everyone in the room laughed.
Annie, who’d just handed Seth Timmons a long string of popcorn, said, “Poor thing. I guess this tree falls in the category of ‘something’s wrong’ in his doggy brain. But brave soul, he’s not going to run away when there’s his master to protect.”
Seth started to climb up the step ladder so he could begin winding the popcorn string from the top of the tree. He and Mitchell had made it home with the girls just as the sun set and then spent the next half hour getting the tree in the front door and set up in the parlor.
Beatrice supervised. She’d ordered several bags of sand earlier in the week, and that afternoon Kathleen filled the deepest washtub with the sand to hold the tree trunk. Beatrice also directed them to place the tree in the corner of the room so that the walls would help keep it upright.
Jamie picked up Dandy, who stopped barking and licked the boy’s face. “That-a-boy. See, it’s just a tree. Smell it.” He carried the dog over, and Dandy eagerly snuffled the end of a branch with his tiny nose, then sneezed.
Annie couldn’t help but smile. She just wished Nate was home from the law firm so he’d get to participate in the fun of trimming the tree. But he’d warned her he might be late.
“Laura,” said Kitty, “if you stand there, I will hand you ornaments from the box, and then you can give them to Seth and Mitchell and tell them where you want them.” She started carefully unwrapping the wire and glass ornaments, which were mostly in the shape of angels, stars, triangular trees, and Santas.
Annie vaguely remembered a scrawny tree from her childhood on the ranch outside of Los Angeles. However, once her mother died and she and her father moved to New York, that tradition withered. Her father tended to become melancholy during the holiday months, missing his wife, so beyond opening small stockings Christmas morning and a couple of presents, they hadn’t done much celebrating.
The misery of her first marriage and early widowhood left no pleasant memories of the holidays for those years, either, and the first two years running the O’Farrell boarding house hadn’t left much time or money for holiday festivities. But she was determined this year, newly married, that Thanksgiving and Christmas would be different.
Thanksgiving hadn’t turned out quite as she’d planned, but she had great hopes for Christmas. And trimming the tree was certainly starting the holiday off well.
Jamie said, “Mrs. Dawson, what’s in all those little bags?”
“Raisins and nuts. You could start hanging them on the tree. But please take Dandy down to the kitchen first. He can keep Mrs. O’Rourke company.”
This afternoon, when Annie started exploring the four boxes of decorations that Kathleen brought down from the attic, she’d been as curious as Jamie when she found the brightly colored little cloth bags and cornucopias, some made of paper, others of cheap tin. Beatrice explained that the tradition was to fill them with raisins, nuts, and small hard candies. Getting a couple of pounds of candies at the local confectioners went on Annie’s ever growing list of “things to do.” But they did have the raisins and nuts on hand, so she and Kathleen filled about two-thirds of them this afternoon.
Annie started pulling out the candle holders and putting in the short red candles she’d bought for this purpose. She wanted to ensure that the candles were only put on the front of the tree so they’d be easily accessible for lighting and, more importantly, extinguishing the flames.
The tree was very fresh, and Beatrice assured her that if the candles were placed correctly the flames wouldn’t be a threat, yet this was one part of the tree trimming she was going to supervise closely. However, she wanted to wait to clip them on until all the other ornaments were placed. She also instructed Kathleen to put fresh water in the sand in the tub and keep a bucket full of water behind the tree…just in case.
Jamie came back from the kitchen with another string of popcorn, which he gave to Seth before starting to slide the bags onto the branches. The cornucopias were easier to do because they had hooks, as did most of the ornaments. Next he helped Mitchell hang the red, green, and white glass balls, trying to intersperse them between the wire ornaments.
An hour later, stepping back from clipping on the last candle, Annie gazed fondly at the whole scene. The two young women, eyes bright and hair a bit wild from the wagon ride down out of the mountains, were laughing at Mitchell’s constant string of jokes. Even the usually sober Seth looked relaxed and happy.
“Oh look, isn’t this beautiful!” Kitty held up a large gilded glass angel that glowed in the light from the fireplace.
Laura said, “That is what needs to go on the top of the tree. Seth, can you put it up there before getting down off the ladder?”
Everyone stood back and admired the effect.
“Gosh, ma’am, that’s better than the tree at the Silver Strike,” said Kathleen as she appeared at the parlor door carrying a tray filled with mugs of hot chocolate, followed by a wide-eyed Tilly carrying a tray of fresh donuts.
“And you are just in time to help light the candles, if you’d like. Put the tray over there and Tilly can hand out the mugs and donuts.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Annie was pleased she’d guessed correctly that Kathleen had been feeling left out by being relega
ted to the kitchen helping Beatrice with popping and stringing the popcorn and frying the donuts. Seth went back up the ladder to help light the candles in the top branches.
Once all the candles were lit, and a few ornaments moved to make sure they wouldn’t be too close to any flames, everyone moved back to look. The whole tree now seemed magical, drawing the eye here and there as the flames illuminated each ornament. Jamie danced with excitement, pointing out his favorites.
The sound of the front door opening was followed by a cold waft of air that made the candle flames flicker, and Nate appeared beside her where she stood in the parlor doorway, giving her a warm hug.
“What do you think, dear?” she asked.
“Pretty impressive. But no tinsel?”
“Oh Nate, do you mind? There was some in one of the boxes, but it appeared quite old and was all twisted and tarnished.”
Nate laughed. “No I don’t mind at all. I always thought it was a bit like gilding a lily when we used it on the trees at home. But Laura loved it; I was just surprised she didn’t insist.”
Annie whispered, “I convinced her that it would be too tempting for Queenie the cat, and we didn’t want her to pull the whole tree down if she slips into the parlor. But I promised her that if she wanted to buy some new tinsel she could use it to decorate the wreath she is going to make for the front door.”
“That will make her happy.”
Pilfered Promises Page 21
