Winnie Childs, the Shop Girl

								

Ena Rolls was not in a mood to answer irrelevant questions, especially
from a brother; but Lord Raygan and his sister were there, and pricked
up their ears at the hint of a mystery. She could not be cross and ask
Peter kindly to go to the devil and not talk rot, as she would have
done if the others had been somewhere else. But then, were it not for
Lord Raygan and his sister and mother, Miss Rolls would be flat in her
berth.
"Five incredibly beautiful girls in evening dress!" repeated Lord
Raygan, who, like Peter, was a good sailor.
Ena Rolls wanted him to be interested in her, and not in five
preposterous persons in evening dress, so she replied promptly to
Peter's question: "I suppose they must be Nadine's living models. We
all had cards about their being on board and the hours of their parade
to show the latest fashions. You saw the card, I suppose, Lady
Eileen?"
"Yes," returned Lord Raygan's flapper sister. "It's on the
writing-desk in that darling sitting-room you've given Mubs and me."
Ena felt rewarded for her sacrifice. She and Peter had engaged the
best suite on board the Monarchic, but when Lord Raygan and his
mother and sister were borne past Queenstown in most unworthy cabins
(two very small ones between the three), Ena had given up her own and
Peter's room to the two ladies. It was a Providential chance to make
their acquaintance and win their gratitude. (She had met Raygan in
Egypt and London, and sailed on the Monarchic in consequence.)
"The stewardess told me before I moved down," she went on, "that Mme.
Nadine had taken the ship's nursery this trip for her show, and fitted
it with wardrobes and mirror doors at immense expense. I'm afraid she
won't get her money back if this storm lasts. Who could gaze at living
models?"
"I could, if they're as beautiful as your brother says," replied Lord
Raygan, a tall, lanky, red-headed Irishman with humorous eyes and a
heavy jaw. He was the first earl Ena had ever met, but she prayed
fervently that he might not be the last.
Peter somehow did not want those pale dryads sacrificed to make a
Raygan holiday. He regretted having remarked on their beauty. "They
looked more like dying than living models when I saw them," he said.
"Let's go and see what they look like now," suggested Raygan. "Eh,
what, Miss Rolls?"
"I don't know if men can go," she hesitated.
"Who's to stop them? Why shouldn't I be wanting to buy one of the
dresses off their backs for my sister?"
"What a melting idea! You do, don't you, dear boy?" the flapper
encouraged him.
"I might. Come along, Miss Rolls. Come along, Eily. What about you,
Rolls? Will you guide us?"
"Let's wait till after lunch," said Ena. She hoped that it might
disagree with everybody, and then they would not want to go.
"Oh, no!" pleaded Lady Eileen O'Neill. "We may be dead after luncheon,
and probably will be. Or Rags'll change his mind about the dress.
Nadine's dresses are too heavenly. I've never seen any except on the