Chapter 4 - Mary Swindells - with audio

April 3rd, 1849

Let us return then, to Mary Swindells for the second interview I conducted with her in her comfy home in St James, not actually so far from the slums from which she came. In the front she ran the shop front for her milliner’s and dressmaking business, the workshop for which was in the basement, where she had a number of girls stitching and sewing at all hours of the day and night. She herself lived at the back of the house and upstairs she had the show rooms in which the girls would often model clothes of various kinds which her customers might buy. She did a busy trade, it seemed to me when I arrived, as there was the constant tramp of feet up and down those stairs.

The building itself was a large, well-appointed town house, semi-detached in a row of similar houses, with a garden both before and aft. The house was decorated in what I can only describe as a very feminine style, with frills, swags, and several miles of fabric draping every sofa and chair. Mrs Swindells herself sat in state in a small parlour at the back, where we were waited on by one of her many servant girls, who popped in and out - Molly, Tilly, Janet and Barbara, but mainly Molly, a larger, older and perhaps more trustworthy woman. All of the above were also seeing to some traffic at the side door and along the hall, apparently due to decorating taking place on the floors above.

Mrs Swindells, as I have noted, was fond of her tipples and before long, several glasses in, her tongue was somewhat loosened ... as the reader will see.