“Why would the good Lord want me to
marry a dying man?” she asked aloud to herself as much as the two men sharing
the room with her.
“His ways are often mysterious,”
Stephen countered with an overly chaste expression upon his face and his eyes
heavenward.
“Please, Miss Radford,” Marcus said,
trying his best to ignore his brother, “all I ask is that you come meet Lord
Westings. I assure you he will appreciate the hope your presence will provide.
It may possibly give him a few moments of peace before his untimely death.”
Emily felt her will begin to waver.
Her father’s greatest desire was to see all his daughters married gently. She
had just begun her second season when he died from pneumonia. Unfortunately,
his estate was entailed and went to a distant cousin, leaving Emily and her
youngest sister, Beatrice, single and without income or dowry. Prior to his
death, she had not secured the interests of any particular man, wanting to
choose her life’s companion wisely.
Only two men had approached her
after it. Both were widowers more than twice her age. Instead of accepting a
loveless marriage, she ceased considering matrimony as an option in her
future.
It was then that she became a
governess. She promised to send what money she was able to spare to help create
a dowry for her sister. Unfortunately, up until this point, she had found
little extra. If she came into a fortune, she knew she would have enough to
find a good match for Beatrice. She may even be able to take care of her mother
nicely to prevent burdening her eldest sister any further. Perhaps this was the
Lord’s answer to her prayers as well. It certainly would resolve her family’s
problems more quickly than her life of service would settle it.
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