Free Elizabeth Mansfield by Poor Caroline

even get angry when we disagree. But I’m constantly aware of the sacrifices you must make in our behalf. At least, if I find work, I can help defray the expenses—”
    “Nonsense,” Letty said firmly. “I have more than enough income to manage. I don’t even need Martha’s help, though she would gladly offer it. Besides, my love, it is not seemly for a lady to work for wages. You will lose all your chances to make a proper marriage, and you mustn’t do that. You mustn’t!” Her eyes suddenly filled with tears, and she pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and dabbed at them. “Oh, my dear Caro,” she said in her trembling voice, “no one knows better than I how p-painful it is to be unmarried.”
    “Aunt Letty, don’t!” Caro cried, taking the thin old woman into her arms. “I never meant to upset you. I am a beast.”
    “You are the dearest girl in the world!” Letty wept into her shoulder. “That’s why I want you to have the h-happiness I never had.”
    “But, Aunt Letty, I don’t understand.” Caro tilted up the wrinkled face and, taking the handkerchief from her, wiped up the wet cheeks. “Everyone says you turned down all your suitors. You never wished to marry, they say. Isn’t that true?”
    “No, it’s not. I was very foolish. I lived in a world of dreams.” She straightened up and, leaning on her cane, set off down the hall. “If I had it to do over, I’d wed one of those flawed fellows instead of waiting for perfection ... for my dream to materialize. I’d be more ... more of a realist.”
    Caro followed her. “But in looking for a post, isn’t that what I’m trying to do?” she asked. ‘Trying to be a realist?”
    “No, I don’t believe you are,” Letty said, looking back over her shoulder at the younger woman, her brows knit. “I think, in your way, you’re as bad as I was. You expect people to live up to your dream of them.”
    Caro stiffened. “If you’re referring to my view of the Vexatious Viscount again—”
    “No, I wasn’t referring to him only. I was also thinking of your decision to look for a position. I don’t think that will be what you dream either.”
    “Perhaps not. But I’m convinced I should try.”
    Letty turned, hobbled back to her, and grasped her arm. “Please, Caro, don’t be hasty. Think about it. Promise me you won’t do anything to spoil your future.”
    Caro looked down into the watery, worried eyes that gazed up at her so beseechingly and could do nothing but make that promise. But in her heart she knew it was an impossible promise to keep. How could she guarantee that she would do nothing to spoil her future? Life had taught her enough to know (even if Letty didn’t) that the future comes with no guarantees.
     
     

 
     
    TEN
     
    It soon began to seem to Caro that matters would go on forever in this dreadful fashion. Another week had gone by, yet the viscount was still making daily calls to which she refused to respond, the boys were still singing his praises, and Letty was still insisting that she should not try to find work. But nothing goes on forever, and the future, which she promised Letty she would try not to spoil, was about to burst upon her.
    The significant event that was to change everything occurred, as significant events often do, on an inauspicious but rather lovely day. The sky was clear, the breeze fresh, and the weather just a trifle cool for April. Caro woke that morning determined not to put off any longer looking for a post. She could not, she felt, continue indefinitely to take advantage of Letty’s kindness. Therefore, while she and Letty lingered over their breakfasts she surreptitiously studied the advertisements in the Times.
    There was only one that offered promise: an advertisement for a governess in a household only a short distance from Letty’s house on Mortimer Street. Caro said nothing aloud, but she memorized the address in the advertisement. She made up her mind to apply for the position at