“Of course not,” Bess replied. She could not tell if the woman was wealthy enough to afford the cufflinks or not. When she had first started helping customers, she had made a mistake by asking a shabbily-dressed man to leave. As it turned out, he was an eccentric millionaire who dressed in rags to see what kind of reaction he received. Unfortunately, she had failed his test and he had gone elsewhere to buy extravagant jewelry for his wife and daughters. She had promised herself never to make that mistake again.

So she was a composer as well as a singer. And she taught music too. Bess looked over at Stephanie and then back to the woman. “I’ve been thinking of finding a singing teacher for my niece. She’s had a rough time lately and she’s very fond of music. If you are not too busy, would you be willing to take her on as a student, assuming that she’s interested?”