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t take no for an answer. Now let’s have some tea while we wait, shall we?’
‘Thank you.’ Belinda gave her a tremulous smile, her cheeks still damp, when Henrietta came back with two cups. ‘I truly am sorry to involve you.’
‘There’s no need to be sorry.’ She shook her head reassuringly, recalling something similar she’d said to Sebastian. ‘We all have our burdens. It helps to share them if we can.’
‘I don’t want to get you into any trouble.’
‘You mean with your family?’
‘No.’ Belinda gave a short laugh. ‘I doubt my family care where I am. They won’t want to see me again, not now.’
‘Then who?’
‘I...’ She sounded hesitant. ‘I’m afraid I can’t say. All I can tell you is that I did something foolish.’
‘Ah.’ Henrietta slid a hand across the table. ‘Well, we all make mistakes sometimes.’
‘Yes, but this was a very big one.’ Belinda sobbed and then hiccupped. ‘I’m sorry. I’m not usually so emotional. It’s just been such a worry, waiting and watching and—’
‘She’s not there!’ Nancy flung the back door open dramatically.
‘What do you mean?’ Henrietta squeezed their new companion’s hand, alarmed by the way all the blood seemed to have drained from her face.
‘I mean that she left a month ago, only not as Miss Foster. She’s Mrs Sheridan now, and who knows where on her honeymoon.’
‘Oh, no!’ Belinda’s face turned positively ashen. ‘She was my last hope. What will I do now?’
‘Don’t panic for a start.’ Nancy deposited her basket on one of the counters. ‘That never does any good at all.’
‘But how can I not?’
‘Where are you staying?’ Henrietta tried a more sensitive approach.
‘At another boarding house on Tibberton Street. I’ve told the proprietor that I’m a governess between jobs, looking for a new position, but I think he’s suspicious about me.’
‘Of course he’s suspicious.’ Nancy gave a snort. ‘Your cloak alone must be worth twenty pounds.’
‘Is it so obvious?’
‘Yes. Everything you’re wearing is much too expensive for a governess.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Belinda looked crestfallen. ‘I’ve never run away before.’
‘Obviously.’
‘Nancy.’ Henrietta gave her a chiding look. ‘It’s not Belinda’s fault.’
‘I never said that it was, but it’s obvious she’s not going to survive on her own—and I’m not saying that’s her fault either.’ She held her hands up as she flopped down into a chair. ‘Ladies aren’t taught how to survive because men don’t want them to find out the truth: that they can live perfectly happy and independent lives without them. That’s why they’re taught embroidery and opera instead of anything useful. I mean, what use is piano playing in the real world?’
‘Nancy, this might not be the best time...’
‘So, as far as I can see, there’s only one thing we can do.’
‘What?’ Henrietta and Belinda asked together.
‘We can give her a job here in the afternoons.’ Nancy spoke as if the answer ought to be obvious. ‘It’s actually the perfect solution now you have the boys to take care of. Then I won’t be working on my own and she’ll have the money to pay her rent until...well, until she learns how to stand on her own two feet.’
‘But she’s a lady! Sorry.’ Henrietta threw Belinda an apologetic look. ‘But a lady like most of our customers. What if one of them recognises her?’
