The Inconvenient Widow: Chapter 1, Part 3

“Perhaps when the emergency is finished?”

“I said no, miss.” The innkeeper’s voice was firm. “I think it already be too late for anyone to be traveling in these parts. ‘Specially not a respectable lady like yourself. There’s highwaymen here ‘bouts. Now, may I be assisting you to securing a room?”

Emily looked down at the worn, wooden floor for a minute. She had not come prepared to spend the night at an inn. She had enough money to buy a seat on tomorrow’s stage if she needed a way home, but she did not have enough to purchase both her seat and an overnight stay. She wished her meager savings from the past year of hard work as a governess had provided more. However, after her refusal to change the bed sheets like a maid, her previous employer refrained from giving her the last month’s pay, which had forced her to dip into the little she had saved to make this trip.

She sighed inwardly. In her eagerness to obtain employment after her father’s death, she had accepted the first open position that she found, which happened to be in the home of a merchant family with modest means and upward social notions. She thought she learned well from her first experience in the working class, but it seemed her inexperience and impatience continued to lead her to poor employment choices.

Afraid her previous employer would slander her name, she decided that she could only find decent employment beyond the confines of London. Now, she regretted taking the country job with the Pickerings. Although she had done a little more research to ensure that their household contained a full serving staff, she found the child she was to watch had left seven governesses in tears when they reported back to the agency. She knew that she was of stronger stuff than the others had been, but the extra pay she requested apparently caused the Pickering family to balk at the last minute. She wondered if she ever would learn patience and discernment.

Please, Lord, guide me in Your ways and help me to be more patient in my future choices, she prayed silently.

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