Anyone Who Had a Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

again, unzipping the dust cover and taking each dress by turn, holding it against herself for effect.
    The first one was made of a pink woollen material with speckles of blue and green interwoven into the fabric. The sleeves were gathered into a tight cuff and it had four buttons and the collar had elongated points.
    ‘Winter, spring or autumn wear – even summer given our English summers,’ Marcie added with a laugh.
    To her delight, Angela took the dress from her and began to study it.
    Marcie went straight on to the next one, which was a soft peppermint green and had an A-line skirt. The material was fairly silky and swirled slightly at the hem.
    ‘Great for the weekend,’ Marcie exclaimed.
    Silently, Angie took that one too. Marcie could tell by her expression that she was hooked on both dresses. Now for the third. She’d purposely left the one she regarded as her best dress until last.
    ‘This is definitely for dancing.’ She held the black all-wool dress against her. It was plainly cut, the sleeves long, the neck round and a cavalcade of small brass buttons down the front. It also had red inserts over the shoulders and the hem ended way above the knees.
    ‘Great with black or red tights,’ said Marcie.
    Judging by the look on Angela’s face, she thought the same.
    Marcie’s heart seemed to burst into song when Angela said, yes, she would take them.
    ‘Can you make more by next weekend?’
    ‘Which one?’
    ‘All three.’
    A creeping fear seeped down Marcie’s spine. She was a one-man band and couldn’t make any more than three in a week. Four would be a push and she couldn’t possibly make three of each design in a week. She pointed this out to the boutique’s highly impressed owner.
    ‘That’s just it,’ said Angela. ‘I don’t want to be the same as the big chain stores in the high street. I want to be more exclusive, so if you could make me one of each of these for next week, we’ll see how things go. I think I’ll sell these this week, though I’ve got a suspicion that the black dress will be in great demand. I might have to ask you for three of the black for the following week in different sizes. Would that be alright?’
    Would that be alright?
    Marcie could almost have skipped with delight.
    ‘Yes! Yes! Of course it would.’
    ‘Shall we say a split of sixty–forty?’
    Sixty and forty made one hundred. That was what sale or return would mean. Whatever Angela sold the dresses for, she, as the manufacturer would get sixty per cent.
    ‘That depends …’
    ‘I’m thinking of seven pounds ten shillings and sixpence. They’re each worth that.’
    Marcie made no comment but kept her gaze fixed on the dresses. It was worth doing.
    Thinking that Marcie was in two minds whether to leave the dresses – and the opportunity – with her, Angela bounced back again.
    ‘OK. How about seventy–thirty?’
    Out of necessity, Marcie hid her delight. The material had been given to her by a friend of her grandmother’s. The price of cotton and buttons was neither here nor there. Basically it meant that she would earn somewhere around five pounds per dress after expenses.
    ‘Done,’ she said, offering her hand. She promised she’d call into the shop on the following Monday.
    She grinned like a Cheshire cat all the way back to the car.
    ‘Hey! You looks like the cat that got the bloody cream, girl,’ her father crowed. His face beamed with delight.
    ‘I have,’ said Marcie as she slid into the passenger seat, hunched her shoulders and sighed with satisfaction. ‘She wants me to make some more.’
    ‘I guessed it,’ he said, smacking the dashboard with his hand. ‘I just knew she’d pay you handsomely for them frocks. How much did she give you?’
    ‘Nothing yet. She’s bought them on sale or return.’
    Her father frowned. ‘What’s that mean when it’s at home?’
    She began to explain. He stopped her.
    ‘I know what sale or return means, girl. I weren’t born under the bloody