laying some of her favourite old folk songs had soothed Madelana. She was feeling at ease with herself at last.

Earlier in the evening, she had half-expected Jack Miller to call her back, had been dreading that he would. But he had not. Now, at last, she was filled with a peacefulness, and she was completely calm. She got up, put the guitar to one side, and went over to the desk near the window.

The files she had brought home with her from the store were stacked and waiting for her attention. She sat down, glanced at the clock, saw that it was almost midnight. But that did not matter to her. She was wide awake and full of energy. Stamina had always been one of her strong suits, and she knew she could complete the work quite easily within two or three hours.

Picking up her pen, she sat back in the chair, staring at the wall, thinking for a moment.

The needlepoint sampler which hung there, and which her mother had made for her when she had been a little girl, suddenly held her attention. It had hung above her bed in her room in Lexington, and it was one of the things she had brought with her when she had first moved to New York.

‘If your day is hemmed with prayer it is less likely to unravel’ her mother had stitched in royal blue wool against the beige background, and she had bordered the sampler with tiny flowers in brilliant primary colours.

Madelana smiled inwardly, seeing Fiona’s lovely image in her mind’s eye. I think she’d be proud of me, proud of what I’ve made of my life, and of where I am today. I know she wouldn’t approve of Jack, of course. I don’t believe I do, either. Not for me. Not any more. I’ll call him in the morning, ask him to have lunch, and I’ll end it face to face, she added to herself, reiterating her decision of earlier in her mind. That’s the only decent thing to do. I can’t tell him over the phone.

She put down the pen and began to shuffle through her files, looking for the one which held her notes and the material for the fashion exhibit.

Each of these folders pertained to the forthcoming celebrations for Harte’s sixtieth anniversary. Paula’s theme was simple, but clever in its simplicity: sixty years of stylish retailing from the jazz age to the space age.

Paula had put her in charge of the anniversary programme at the New York store, and she was responsible for the overall planning of different events and shows, and telexes had been flying back and forth across the Atlantic for many, many months. Ideas had been approved of, or knocked down, by Paula, and merchandise ordered, campaigns put in work, advertising art completed, brochures and invitations printed. The files represented endless hours of work and thought and dedication, and she must complete the last few memorandums about each event and campaign tonight.

Maddy’s own special projects included Fragrance Month; a stylish art show in the art gallery of the store, highlighting decorative objects from the Art Deco period; an exhibit of real and costume jewellery from the Art Deco period to the present, featuring some of the world’s greatest jewellery designers. These included Verdura, Jeanne Toussaint of Cartier, and Renée Puissant of Van Cleef and Arpels, and their work from decades past; Alain Boucheron and David Webb were two of the designers of the present who would be showcased. At the other end of the price scale, she had decided to highlight the unique costume jewellery and fabulous fakes designed by Kenneth Jay Lane, along with a collection of paste pieces from the nineteen-thirties.

Her hands came to rest on the fashion folder at last. This held information and details of the fashion exhibition which Paula planned to hold at the London store next spring. Maddy had convinced her to bring it over to New York in the late summer of 1982. Having agreed, Paula had then suggested she try to expand the exhibit, by adding clothes borrowed from American women who had either been on the best dressed list at some time or other, or who owned a garment by a top couturier, whether living or dead. And this she had done – with great success.

The nucleus of the couture exhibition were clothes which had once belonged to Emma Harte, and which she had kept in good condition for years before her death. Paula had carefully preserved these clothes again, after they had been in the Fashion Fantasia exhibition at the London store some ten or eleven years ago.

Emma’s clothing in the show dated as far back as the early twenties, and included a Paquin evening coat of brown velvet trimmed with a huge fox collar, a short evening dress with a big bow on the back, designed in 1926 by Poiret, and a blue-and-green beaded evening gown by Vionnet. This was apparently in extraordinary condition, and looked stunning in the photograph the London marketing department had sent over; it seemed hardly dated at all to Madelana.

Sifting through the other drawings and photographs, she pored over Emma’s Chanel suits from the twenties, a huge collection of her hats by French and English couturiers, outfits by Lanvin, Balmain and Balenciaga, two Fortuny pleated silk evening gowns, evening pyjamas by Molyneux, and an exquisitely-cut coat by Pauline Trigère, designed in the fifties but as chic now as it had been then. There were other modern outfits by Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Bill Blass and Hardy Amies.

Maddy began to make her notes, creating the exact order in which she wanted the drawings and photographs to appear in the catalogue. She had already put this into work with the art department, and they were pressuring her for these illustrations.

One of Maddy’s favourites was a charmeuse evening dress by Mainbocher, which according to Paula her grandfather Paul McGill had bought for Emma in New York in 1935. It was trimmed with clustered silk flowers stitched as epaulets on the shoulders, and worn with a matching muff made of the same clustered silk flowers.

Picking up a photograph of Emma wearing the dress, Madelana studied it for a moment. God, what a beautiful woman she was, she murmured to herself, and decided to lead off with this particular picture.

After she had finished with the fashion exhibit file, she dealt with the information required for the Fragrance Month, and then tackled the Art Deco show, leaving the final details of the jewellery exhibit until last. She worked relentlessly for another hour and a half, making sure there could be no mistakes whatsoever while she was in Australia.

At two in the morning she stood in her little kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil for a cup of instant coffee. And as she carried this back into the living room a moment later, she braced herself for another hour of work at least.

Well, Maddy thought, seating herself at the desk, if Emma Harte could work around the clock, then so can I. After all, she has been my inspiration and my idol for years, and I want to emulate her in every way I possibly can.