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I know that it won’t mean much to you, but it mattered to me that you asked me to look after things while you are away. I won’t let you down.

Yours,

Sylvia

26 January 1942

Dear Mrs. Pearsall,

I am very sorry to learn of the passing of your mother. Please accept the most sincere condolences of myself and everyone at Whitmore’s.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances that prompted your letter, I am glad that you have written. I recall you and your mother very well, and for some time I had been attempting to establish a correspondence with Mrs. Shelton. As you are currently handling the shop’s affairs, might I suggest it would be best to discuss matters in person? I will ask my secretary to ring the shop to arrange an appointment.

Your faithful servant,

Geoffrey Manon

28 January 1942

Dear Izzie,

Please do not ignore my letters. I understand that you’re angry with me, but you cannot not write to me.

Yours,

Sylvia

28 January 1942

Dear Sylvia,

I haven’t written to you in some time because my orders came in, necessitating a very quick scramble around my hut to pack and bundle myself on a train. I imagine that any post you have sent me in the past few days may take some time to catch up to me, but I will be able to answer any specific questions you may have about the shop as soon as I receive them.

I am not, as I predicted, being sent to work in one of the tailor’s shops at an RAF base. Instead, I have been assigned to go on for further training in handling barrage balloons.

The good news for me is that a new friend of mine will be joining me in my training unit. Her full title is the Honorable Lady Alexandra Sumner, daughter of Lord Menby, although she insists that I call her Alexandra.

I imagine that you think it will be a great coup that I have managed to secure a friend with so lofty a rank. However, I can reassure you that Alexandra is nothing like you would expect an earl’s daughter to be. She is friendly and open—in fact, it was she who approached me first to chat.

I’m certain that you’ve met far more distinguished women in the circles that you and Hugo move in, so perhaps you won’t be so impressed. However, I hope that you will be happy to hear that I’ve made a friend.

Sincerely,

Isabelle Shelton

30 January 1942

Dear Izzie,

I will admit, I was surprised when I opened your last letter and saw nothing about the advertisements or the shop. I was certain that you would be furious with me for what I’ve done, but then I kept reading and realized that you probably have no idea what has happened because my letters hadn’t reached you yet. I don’t know whether to prepare to feel foolish or to brace myself for your anger. I hope that it is neither.

I’m so pleased to hear you’ve managed to befriend such a lovely woman in the short weeks that you’ve been away from Maida Vale—never mind the title she holds. Lady Alexandra sounds like a delight, and I’m very glad you’ve met her.

You mentioned that I might not be impressed that you are mixing with an honorable because Hugo and I must brush elbows with people like Lady Alexandra’s family often. The truth of the matter is far more mundane than you think. While it is true that, before the war, Hugo had a great number of distinguished patients, our circle has fewer lords and ladies in it than you might expect.

I sit on the committee of a charitable organization run by a woman named Lady Nolan, who is the wife of a baronet and is at great pains to remind everyone of that fact on a regular basis. There was quite the set of ruffled feathers last year when another member of the committee suggested in a meeting that we invite the Countess of Winman to join us because her husband owns all of those newspapers and her presence might be good for our fundraising efforts. Lady Nolan turned a particularly revolting shade of puce at the idea of no longer being the first lady in the order of precedence, but there was nothing she could do, because the suggestion had been made out in the open, and to turn it down would look vain and uncharitable. So now Lady Winman quietly sits in our committee meetings, and I hardly know what she makes of all of it.

I suspect that if Hugo had his way, we would have every lord and lady he knew to supper.