The store manager, a middle-aged man with a worried expression, approached quickly. "Is there a problem, Mrs. Thornton?"
"Yes, there is," Elizabeth said, her voice dripping with contempt. "This woman is causing a disturbance and should be thrown out."
The manager looked at Grace, then at Elizabeth, clearly conflicted. He didn't want to discriminate against anyone, but Elizabeth was a prominent customer, and her patronage was valuable to the store.
Besides, he understood what it meant to be on the bad side of someone like Elizabeth Thornton. How did this lovely young lady manage to provoke her?
Grace's nose turned up in a sneer when she sensed what the manager was about to do.
She wasn't bothered as she also had her own plans if things eventually go the way she was sure it would. No one is permitted to take her simplicity for cowardice.