Okay, I’ve read this book plenty of times before and enjoyed it, but one early episode just makes me confused because I cannot for the life of me figure out what it means. The bit where the dressmaker offers the protagonist a 10% cut, and the protagonist is embarrassed. I don’t get it. I’m bad enough at picking up on social subtext with real people, let alone in print.
>I told him how I had rung the bell for the lift, and as I had done so she \[dressmaker\] had fumbled in her bag and gave me a note for a hundred francs. “Here,” she had whispered, her tone intimate and unpleasant, “I want you to accept this small commission for bringing your patron to my shop.” When I had refused, scarlet with embarrassment, she had shrugged her shoulders disagreeably. “Just as you like,” she had said, “but I assure you it’s quite usual. Perhaps you would rather have a frock. Come along to the shop without Madame and I will fix you up without charging you a sou.” Somehow, I don’t know why, I had been aware of that sick, unhealthy feeling I had experienced as a child when turning the pages of a forbidden book. The vision of the constumptive son faded, and in its stead rose the picture of myself had I been different, pocketing that greasy note with an understanding smile, and perhaps slipping round to Blaize’s shop on this my free afternoon and coming away with a frock I had not paid for.
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by Frosty_Mess_2265
2 Comments
My understanding was that the dressmaker was bribing her to keep Mrs. Van Hopper’s custom. Van Hopper would spend loads of money and the dressmaker is basically ensuring that the protagonist keeps bringing her boss there. The protagonist didn’t intend to do it that way and didn’t feel right taking the money.
google the meaning of patron and that should help you figure it out!