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After dropping the tray in the kitchen and asking one of the maids to make more tea for Mrs Millwood, Sarah slipped out of the kitchen door, and went across the Inn yard. The cottage directly behind the Bellbrook Arms was her dear mother’s abode.
She knew that two needs would be met with her new idea, and she was determined to make it happen.
Calling as she entered the cottage, Sarah awakened an older lady who was dozing by the fire. As she raised her hand in greeting, Maggie Carter’s gentle face showed no alarm or censure for the unannounced visit.
“Mother, we’ve an interesting guest staying at the Inn. There’s a lady widow there who needs must find another direction for her life. Her father and her poor dead husband’s family have both turned her away, can you imagine! And them gentry as well! She’s an Earl’s daughter, no less. But she’d been working as a governess, can you imagine it? And even that position’s gone, poor dear. She’ll sort it out soon enough, I expect, but right now she’s concerned about spending her monies to stay at the Inn until she gets her pins under her again.”
“Poor dear,” Maggie said. Her concern was genuine, and she beamed at her daughter, her kind heart showing in her gaze. She adjusted her shawl before she continued. “Why not bring her here, dear? Lord knows I could use the company, and she could maybe find some peace as we share a simple table. Not that this cottage is anything like what she’ll have known in an Earl’s house… but still…”
“I’m a little concerned that she’ll think we’re only feeling sorry for her. That it’s charity.”
Maggie thought for a moment.
“We can pretend she is to help me about the house, as I’m ailing and old. We wouldn’t want to embarrass the lass. ’Twould only be a short time, most like, and ’twould be a kind thing to do.”
“That sounds just the thing, mother dearest. I knew that you’d know how to deal with the situation. But you mustn’t overdo the ‘ailing’, as she’s a Lady I’m thinking, and not used to nursing. Besides, you may be creaky in the joints, but you’re as hale as me otherwise!”
They laughed together as they went to inspect the room which they would offer their guest.
“It will do, I believe,” said the daughter. “It’s not quite as large as the room she has at the Inn, but it’s clean and safe enough. It’s a mild winter, you don’t really use this room as a parlour, and the kitchen will be fine for two — don’t you think?”
Sarah was teasing her mother, knowing full well that the back room had been a maid’s, who had left a month ago, to marry. There was no fancy parlour furniture.
Privately, Sarah was glad that there would be someone to keep watch over her mother, and give an opinion about how well she was actually able to cope by herself. The maids from the Inn still helped Sarah clean the cottage, and brought some meals over, yet Sarah was nevertheless concerned for her old mother. This was the most excitement Sarah had seen in her mother in years.
“Do tell her now, my dear,” Maggie said. “Let her know that she need not worry another minute about the use of her funds. It will do her good to have another woman to confide in, as she has done with you. There are so many travellers who pass through the Inn who might find such a woman a target for their rapscallion ways. Even though your customers are generally of a higher class, men are men.”
“How well I know,” Sarah said, crossing her arms. “Right now, Miles has me trying to solve a mystery. It seems that a guest has purloined a keg of rum from the storeroom — the second in as many months.”
“Annoying as that is, first, I think you should solve the more important situation of my new companion.”
“Of course, mother.” Sarah moved toward the door. “I’ll go directly and see if she’d like to come.”
As Sarah left for the Inn, Maggie pulled the kettle forward on the hob, to be sure that she could offer tea when the lady arrived.
Back in the Inn, Sarah settled herself on the chair next to Mrs Millwood, who was holding her kerchief in her hand and staring into the small fire. Sarah gently touched Mrs Millwood’s arm to gain her attention.
“My dear,” she began, “you no longer have to worry about dribbling out your coin here. In fact, you can do me a great favour as well as easing your own costs.”
“What? How is that?”
“My mother lives behind the Inn in a comfortable little cottage. She is old and a bit scatter-brained at times, but completely wonderful. She can put on such cheer, yet be as stubborn as a mule, so I hate to lord it over her or to push a maid on her. It would be taking her independence, you know. But the truth is, she needs a bit of help.”
The widow nodded her head.
“Yes, I can understand that.”
“I’d like another opinion on how well she really is able to cope, too. Do you think you could stay with her for a few weeks, or even months, if you have need? There’s a room to spare, so you’d have your own space. Just until you’re settled to where you’re going. It would be good for both of you, I think.”
Aware of her tendency to babble, Sarah shut her mouth suddenly and looked hopefully at the astounded young woman. Mrs Millwood’s eyes darted back and forth for several seconds, after which Sarah was rewarded with a brilliant smile.
“I do believe that you are right,” Mrs Millwood said. “It would do me a world of good to be useful as I wait for my mind to settle and my spirit to rise. I look forward to meeting your mother!”
*****
Verity felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The kindness of Mrs Jeffries was beyond anything she had expected, and the solution she proposed sounded wonderful. This would, at least, give her time to decide what to do – and time to be sure about her condition, and what to do about that, too.
And thus began a path not expected and a future more brilliant than Verity could ever have imagined.
