An Independent Lady by Julia Byrne

Author:Julia Byrne [Byrne, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-11-19T18:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

They took the cliff road. Amy didn’t know whether Hawkridge chose the route from force of habit, or because he’d accepted her earlier assurances, and didn’t have time to enquire. They were barely past the vicarage when he returned to the subject of her past.

“Tell me about your mother, Mrs. Chantry.” He glanced down at her. “If I was correct in assuming her situation to be similar to Cora’s, she must have been an exceptionally courageous young woman to rear you as she did.”

Amy debated for a moment, then decided that after visiting Lavender Cottage, his interest sprang from genuine concern.

“My mother’s situation was somewhat worse, sir. At least Cora hasn’t been forced into the poorhouse. You see, parish officials are loathe to support able-bodied adults. One must work. Which is all very well, but work isn’t easy to find when one has a babe in arms or a young child clinging to one’s skirts. Whenever Mama found a position, no matter how lowly, there were always…compromises to be made.”

“Involving the men in the situation?”

She made a small, assenting gesture. “I was too young to know about it, of course, but I remember how she would sink into despair sometimes, that she often looked afraid. Eventually, the poorhouse, or workhouse as they are coming to be known, must have seemed safer for both of us.”

“And harder to get out of than the Fleet, I imagine.”

“No one wants to lose free labor,” she said dryly. “You can’t leave unless you can prove you won’t be a charge on the parish, but how can one search for employment when one is forever kept busy and confined? It’s a circle of hopelessness, especially for the simple, the old and sick, or children like myself who lack formal education.”

“You have more than formal education, Mrs. Chantry. Thanks to your mother, I presume.”

She nodded. “Most workhouses have classes for younger children, but I was considered too old by the time we entered one. So, at night, Mama taught me everything she could remember from her own schooling.”

“Even how a lady should behave,” he murmured.

“She was a lady, sir! Not only by birth, but in all the ways that matter.”

He smiled faintly. “Having met you, Mrs. Chantry, I have no doubt on that score.”

Slightly mollified, Amy subsided. “Eventually I was taken into the superintendent’s house to be trained as a maid…”

“But?” he prompted when she paused.

“I grew older. Old enough to draw the attention of the son of the house, and…his friends.”

“Hmm. I think I hear ‘doltish’ friends in there somewhere.”

The comment drew a smile from her. “Whenever I was sent out on an errand, I began to look for another position,” she said, more at ease. “Eventually I found a place at the Misses Appleton’s Academy for Young Gentlewomen. I…”

She hesitated, then lifted her chin. In this instance, at least, she could give him the truth. And hope it would pacify her conscience for a while.

“I lied, sir, to gain a position as a junior schoolmistress.

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