The orphanage she’d been raised at refused to take her back, even as a char. Her alternatives had been working in a laundry or sleeping rough. Her landlady had started muttering about girls like you no better than they should be. Grove made it clear he expected her to spend at least part of her first week’s wages on a new shirtwaist and extra set of cuffs, but he’d also mentioned the generous employee discount and encouraged her to ask Miss Mardle about the gloves from Holland that weren’t selling as well as they’d hoped. Alina wasn’t sure if the evidence of her mixed heritage, the warmer cast of her complexion, the shape of her dark eyes, the unrelieved ebony of the braided hair at the nape of her neck, had played the deciding role in her offer of employment at Selfridge’s tea emporium instead of the accessories department she’d applied for, but with the rent due on her lodging and barely enough money left for a cup of stewed tea and a day-old bun at the wagon outside the department store and not the emporium itself, she wasn’t about to inquire-or complain.
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