with a jealous streak. At first, she found it charming… until he turned violent.
She didn't know what to do and was embarrassed to go to her family since they'd
always told her he was no good.”
“So, what happened?” Christopher asked, digging a wad of cotton out of one
ear and sinking to a seat at his desk.
“Mrs. Turner and I took her to her father and explained the situation. I believe he had a talk with the young man, and her father's a butcher, so you can
imagine how that went. At any rate, the courtship is done, and the young man is
gone. Miss Jones seemed sad but relieved. I hope in time she will find someone
better.”
“That's good news,” Christopher replied, tucking his mask into the desk
drawer “Was her father angry with her?”
“Disappointed but not truly angry. No man wants to see his child hurt,”
Turner said.
What a shame that isn't true, Christopher thought. What must go wrong in a man's mind to blur the line between love and violence?
It took Christopher a moment to realize Colonel Turner had gone on talking.
He focused back on the conversation.
“The new dye is terrible. The samples faded before we could even get them onto the train. Some of the dyers said it looked weak in the vats, so let's not buy
that one again.”
“Agreed,” Christopher said. “I suppose it was foolish to hope such an
inexpensive product would have good quality.
“You get what you pay for,” Adrian added quietly, glancing up from his
desk.
“Very well,” Christopher said, pulling out an order form. “We'll go back to our usual vermillion dye. It's proven itself worth the money.”
“The dyers will be glad.”
“As will the customers,” Adrian added, holding up a stack of invoices, all of
them stamped with the name of Mme. Olivier's shop.
Colonel Turner nodded and replaced his mask, ducking out the door to return
to the work floor while Christopher applied himself to ordering a new vermillion
dye from the old supplier.
“Well, son, how are the travel plans going?” Adrian asked, interrupting
Christopher's musings.
“Quite well.” Christopher finished filling out an order form and set it aside to
dry. “It's taking longer than I expected, but we should be ready to leave a week
from Friday.”
He glanced at his father and found him grinning. “Good. Did you settle on Italy or France?”
“Italy.” Christopher dipped his pen and signed another document from his
stack. Oh good, the turn wheel for the broken loom should arrive before I leave.
Devin will not have a clue how to fix it. “Katerina's mother's family still lives there. We made contact with her grandfather, and he would like us to stay with
him.”
“How nice. Let's hope he's better than…” Adrian trailed off.
