Lucian smiled. “You may call me Lucian. I am sure Marcus
made you aware of my situation, but would you mind informing me of what brought
you here this evening?”
Emily swallowed. What had brought her to the inn was an
accident, but she now wondered what brought her into this room. How was she to
explain to the dying Baron that she came to see him because she believed he
could be a solution to the financial problems of her family? She decided that
if the Good Lord were guiding her actions, He would want her to be completely
honest. She would tell her story, and if Lucian rejected her, so be it. Since
Stephen had paid for her night at the inn, she had enough money to return home
or to attempt to see if she was still needed with the Pickerings. If, on the
other hand, Lucian accepted her, she would see it as the Lord’s will and trust
Him to guide her through the days ahead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marcus watched from his chair in the corner. At first, Emily
told her story haltingly. She related the distress of having her father die and
discovering the estate was entailed to a distant cousin, whom she had never met.
She told him how her eldest sister immediately took their mother into her home
while her two other sisters offered to take Miss Radford and her younger
sister. She explained how her older sisters could little afford the burden of
bringing Beatrice out in style or keeping Emily on the market for a husband.
Rather than set her hopes high or weigh her siblings down, she alone decided to
enter into service in order to offset the burden of her mother and Beatrice’s
care.
To Marcus’ surprise, Lucian listened patiently, encouraging
her to forge ahead with her story whenever she stalled. His constant urging,
seemed to relax her as she stood stiffly in the doorway. Then she stepped
further into the room and seemed to pour her heart out to his friend, explaining
in detail her disastrous first employment and her dashed expectations with this
one.
By the end of her tale, she had taken the chair at Lucian’s
side. Again, a flicker of jealousy rose in his breast. Why had she refrained
from telling him all her troubles? He stifled the emotion, knowing he still
would have felt obligated to thrust her at Lucian.
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