Chapter Five
Runa could feel the heat of embarrassment in her flushed cheeks as she stood in her simple undergarments before the seamstress, who was taking down all her measurements.
“Your corset is a disgrace.” Missus Rumlow chided, watching dispassionately, and Runa knew her cheeks were flaming all the brighter. Her corset was clean, but the fabric was beginning to fray a bit at the edges. Runa had mended it as best she could, but it was still clearly an old corset that had seen much daily wear.
“I’m sorry, Missus Rumlow.” Runa managed as the dressmaker finished up.
“We’ll fix that.” The dressmaker said with confidence, as Missus Rumlow had also ordered a full set of underpinnings for Runa to go with her new dresses. “You can put your dress back on now, Miss Freydis.” Runa hastily did just that, getting into her black cotton dress quickly.
“She’ll want something simple. Nothing too fancy. Certainly not the height of fashion.” Missus Rumlow was saying to the dressmaker, who was fetching her fabric samples. “Cotton challis, I think. It will wear well, and is fine but not too fine.”
“We can provide a challis dress easily, but cotton?” The dressmaker asked, a bit startled.
“She will be travelling where it is quite warm in the summers. Cotton will serve far better than wool. Runa, come here and see which fabric will suit you.” She ordered. Runa rapidly did as she was told, and looked at the samples the dressmaker showed her.
“Oh.” Runa breathed softly, as she looked at a particular swatch. “This one is lovely.” She ventured. It was a very light tan fabric, with a delicate green vine pattern and small red rosebuds on it forming something like stripes in the fabric.
“Quite lovely. It will serve nicely as a Sunday best.” Missus Rumlow agreed, before pointing to a plain, unrelieved black. “This for your other dress, I should think. Black does not show the dust of travel easily.”
“Yes, Missus Rumlow.” Runa agreed, a little disheartened. Her employer gave her a sharp look.
“Well? What is that tone for? You should be happy.”
“It is only that most of my dresses are black or gray, ma’am.” She explained hastily, almost stumbling over her words. When Missus Rumlow asked a question, you answered it, or she would badger and berate you until you did. Best get it out of the way sooner. “I had been thinking maybe a blue dress, instead? Navy?” She ventured.
“Navy would be lovely with your coloring and those blue eyes.” The dressmaker agreed, before looking to Missus Rumlow, pointing to another fabric swatch, “As a dark fabric it would still be quite excellent for travelling, but would also serve excellently for church, and be well suited for summer. Black is far more suitable for ladies of breeding to wear fashionably, and is more of a winter color.” Runa swore she saw the dressmaker give her a wink when Missus Rumlow was comparing the two swatches and not looking at them.
“Very well.” Missus Rumlow finally agreed, a bit grudgingly. “Black for the trim.”
“An excellent choice, Missus Rumlow. Let me fetch my pattern book, and we can decide on styles. Nothing with too much of a bustle, I should think…”
They spent another hour at the dressmaker’s. As they left, Missus Rumlow handed Runa a sheet of paper. “Take that to Parker’s Dry Goods and select the fabric you would like for the remainder of the dresses, as well as the rest of it. You may also have the remainder of the day off to complete your errands.”
Runa looked at the folded sheet of stationary in her hands, and nodded. “Yes, Missus Rumlow. Thank you, ma’am.”
“You can thank me by marrying that rancher.” Missus Rumlow grumbled, before getting into her carriage. As the carriage drove away, Runa opened the sheet of paper, revealing a note to the proprietor of Parker’s Dry Goods. Runa was to be allowed to order two bolts of fine quality cambric, and one bolt of fine quality muslin. She was also to select fifty-four yards of calico. Runa raised a hand to cover her mouth as she stared in shock at the number, wondering how Missus Rumlow had ever concluded that three dresses required that much fabric. She frowned at the paper and tried to do the sums in her head, and realized that she was being allotted eighteen yards of fabric per dress, which was twice as much as she would truly need, due to her small stature and slender frame. Missus Rumlow must have reached her figure after calculating how much fabric went into one of her own fine dresses, with all the ruffles and frills and extra geegaws that Runa would never need, particularly not as a rancher’s wife. Not if she was expected to cook and clean for all the men on the ranch.
Finally, Runa allowed herself a small smile. Well, it wasn’t her fault that Missus Rumlow had miscalculated so, giving her such a fabric allowance. She could get fabric enough for six dresses, and not feel bad in the slightest for doing so, as Missus Rumlow was sending her off to get married without ever asking if it was what Runa wanted.
Goodness. With a wardrobe like that, she would be the best dressed women in all Amaranto Springs, she was certain.
First, though, she had other business to attend to. Since Missus Rumlow had given her the rest of the day off. Runa began walking briskly towards her bank, feeling a bit relieved. She had been wondering how she would be able to take the time to close her account before leaving for Texas, but now that she had the afternoon off, well, that was a weight lifted off her mind.
When she reached the bank and explained her desire to the teller, there was a bit of trouble. Runa had been working for the Rumlows for nine years, earning a dollar a day with her room and board, half that on Sundays as she was given a half day. She had placed nearly everything she earned in the bank at Titus’ suggestion, and had managed to acquire quite a nest egg. Every year she received two work dresses and four aprons from the Rumlows. On Christmas, Runa, Polly, and Iris all received a present of enough cloth in somber colors and subdued patterns for a new dress, which inevitably became their Sunday bests. It meant that Runa had to spend very little, and was therefore able to save more than most people. There was well over two thousand dollars in her account that she wished to withdraw, and the teller had her wait until she could speak to the bank manager, of all people. Runa didn’t know why they needed to trouble him over such a trifling amount compared to what the bank usually dealt with, but she supposed it must have been a rule for all large withdrawals.
She was escorted to the bank manager’s office, and spent longer than she liked explaining that she simply needed to close her account because she was leaving for Texas. The bank wanted to offer her a bank note, or a funds transfer, as it was a great deal of money for a lady to carry. Runa bit her lip, and admitted that she did not know if there was a bank or not in Amaranto Springs. A clerk was hastily sent to the telegraph office to see if information could be obtained, while the bank manager spoke to Runa quite politely.
“And why are you moving to Texas, Miss Freydis? A business opportunity?” They aging bank manager asked politely.
“A well to do rancher asked me to marry him and I accepted.” Runa lied, fighting the urge to bite her lip, trying to keep calm so the lie wouldn’t show on her face. “I met him through my employers.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, she reasoned.
The banker looked startled. “Employers? You mean the Rumlows?” She nodded that he was correct. “But you-” He cut himself off, turning a bit red himself at his gaffe. It did not do to discriminate against her based on her profession, not when she had been a loyal patron for nine years. Runa knew he was about to make a comment about a maid marrying a business associate of her previous employers, and felt a bit angry. Her parents had once been pillars of the community. Her father a successful businessman. Her mother had been a debutante, an heiress.
Too bad the money had all been squandered or lost in bad investments.
“He is a good man, and I am fond of him.” That wasn’t exactly a lie, either. She did like the man she had read about in the letters the night before. “I am no stranger to hard work, and I have been told that life out west is not for refined ladies.” She said slowly. “They need women who can withstand the rigors of life, not china dolls.”
He actually smiled at that. “Then I have every faith you will do well there. You are very like your father and uncle. Firm in your convictions, and with good sense. Your future husband could do much worse. The Freydis blood runs strong. And with your mother’s beauty, as well.”
Runa flushed, looking down at her hands at his compliment. Elisse Freydis had been quite beautiful, but Runa felt she did not come close in comparison. She took after her father’s side of the family more than her mother’s. “Thank you, sir. I did not realize you knew them. It’s been… Well. It has been a while.” She looked up at him. “Did father have accounts here?”
“He did. I regret that I cannot discuss the accounts with you-”
“That’s all right.” Runa said quietly, looking at her hands folded on her lap once more. “I was made aware of my family’s financial situation when I went to live with the Rumlows. Mister Rumlow explained it all to me.”
She didn’t see the banker’s frown. “I’m not so certain he did, Miss Freydis. I must confess, I…” He cut himself off as someone knocked at his office door. “Enter.”
The clerk who had been sent off to the telegraph office entered and handed a folded paper to the bank manager. The manager took the paper and read it, before smiling.
“You are in luck, Miss Freydis. There is indeed a bank in Amaranto Springs, and they are quite willing to arrange a transfer with us. Now, you were saying you wish to transfer all your assets?”
“Well, yes.” She frowned slightly. “I’ve been good at keeping up with my expenditures and deposits with my bank book.” She pulled the small booklet from her reticule and showed him the amount. “I’ve calculated that this should be the amount I have. I was also thinking of taking out perhaps three hundred dollars to carry with me, as I need to make some purchases before I depart, and I know food costs dearly on the train. I also do not know what I will find in Amaranto Springs or what will be necessary to make the house into a home I can call my own, so it would be wise to have spending money of my own until the funds are well established in the bank.”
The bank manager smiled, looking a bit relieved somehow. “These figures are accurate for that account, yes. And that is a wise idea. Please wait here, Miss Freydis, while I see to it that the proper arrangements are made. Would you like a drink of water while you wait?”
“Oh, no, no thank you.” Runa said, a bit startled but gratified by the offer. “I am quite fine, thank you.”
Not long after that, she was on her way with a receipt for the transfer of her funds, and three hundred dollars tucked into her reticule. She hurried to Parker’s Dry Goods, worried at the time she was taking. Missus Rumlow had given her the remainder of the day off, but she had changed her mind about such things before.
When she reached the store, she wasn’t the only one in line, so she went to look over the calicos that they had to offer. She smiled seeing some of the patterns and cheery colors, feeling a thrill inside her that she would get to wear some of them. She was tired of black and gray, the colors she wore in service. For years she had longed for pretty frocks, and now she would have them. Still plain, still serviceable, but at least there would be color to brighten things.
Finally, one of the two men behind the counter of the shop came to see what she needed, and Runa obediently handed over the letter Missus Rumlow had given her.
He read it, his eyebrows shooting up practically into his hairline. “Three complete bolts? And how much calico?”
“Enough for six dresses.” Runa ventured, almost quailing under the stern, disbelieving gaze he gave her, but knowing that even if he sent someone to the Rumlows’ to verify thing with Missus Rumlow, she would be in the right. Well. Missus Rumlow might cut her fabric allowance in half, hearing Runa would be choosing enough fabric for six gowns with what was currently allowed, but other than that, she should be fine.
“Doesn’t your mistress know how much fabric is in a bolt of cloth?” He finally demanded.
Runa managed a wry smile at that. “I don’t think she does. She does mean to be generous, though. I’m leaving her service to get married, you see, and she is offering me the means to make a new wardrobe to take into my marriage.”
The man smiled. “That is mighty generous of her. I’ll have to order the cambric and muslin, if that is all right. We don’t have full bolts of the quality she’s ordered, but I can have them delivered inside a week. Have you picked out the calico you wanted?”
“Yes sir.” Runa agreed, before indicating six different bolts. The first was a soft purple, almost mauve, with tiny sprays of darker purple flowers. Then she selected a pine green patterned in small mint green ivy leaves, flowers, and sprigs of vine. There was a print on a tan background that at first glance looked like dark red and green and yellow leaves on bits of vines, and then came the blues. Her favorite color, and one she had always wanted to wear. A dark navy with sprays of tan and lighter blue flowers, a medium blue with white flowers, and a sky blue sprigged in white. The shopkeeper measured and made the cuts quickly, while Runa took a basket and collected the threads and fasteners and trimmings she needed. The shopkeeper took note of everything, adding it to the Rumlows’ account.
“I have some money of my own, and there are a few other things I would like to buy.” She ventured finally, glad there was someone else behind the counter to help other customers, feeling guilty for taking up so much of the shopkeeper’s time and attention.
“Of course. What were you looking at?”
In the end, Runa purchased a new, sturdy pair of boots, and a straw poke bonnet lined in cream fabric that had tempted her sorely, as well as a few other little bits she would need, some of them frivolous, but all necessary. Then she purchased a carpet bag to carry everything in, trying hard to keep a foolish, happy grin off her face as she made her way back to the house.