Page 3 of Caroline Saves the Blacksmith
She nodded, placing the little girl at a workbench near the door, and headed to the teapot. Her grandmother had always said that there was no situation that a cup of tea could not improve. Whatever had caused the girl’s distress was best disclosed with some fortitude.
The two women cast curious glances at the sniffling child before hesitantly bowing their heads back to their sewing, Mary Beth continuing a tale about a fight that had broken out between the men at one of the taverns the night before.
Caroline poured out two cups of tea, adding a dash of milk to her own, but no sugar. She needed energy to work long hours as a shop owner, and she found that sugar caused fatigue, which she had no time for.
To the second cup, she added a lot of milk and extra sugar. If the child was anything like Caroline had been at her age, she would likely prefer it watered-down and sweet. And sugar was good for shock, according to the doctor Caroline had worked for, so perhaps the girl would need it.
Carrying the cups back to where the girl sat, Caroline placed them on the table before taking a seat across from her.
“What is your name, little one?”
“Annie,” she responded hoarsely. “Annie Greer.”
The child’s tears had stopped, but her expression was desolate and her reddened eyes fixed on the cup in front of her. It gnawed at Caroline’s gut to see the girl so distraught.
No personal relationships, do you hear?
Caroline squashed the inner voice. This was not the time nor place.
“And why are you so upset, Annie Greer?”
The girl was too lean. She was pale, with the dark hollows of someone undernourished. Caroline suspected the child might not have enough to eat, with her thin limbs and a dress that had been let out and mended many times.
“My mum is sending me away to Bath and I don’t want to go!”
Caroline reached forward and tapped the teacup, encouraging the girl to drink. Annie lifted it to her lips and took a sip. She brightened slightly, and she sipped down the tea with gusto. When she set the cup down, only half of the milky tea remained and she appeared less stricken.
“What is in Bath?”
“My mum found someone who would take me on, but I can’t leave her alone. Mum is sick, and she needs my help, so I must stay here with her.”
“There is no one else to take care of her?”
“No. Just Mum and me. She tried to find a place for me here in Chatternwell, but no one needs me.”
Caroline mused over this, sipping her tea. She did not have any apprentices yet because she was still living in rented rooms nearby and had not arranged a home for herself. No home meant no place to provide room and board to apprentices.
And you are to avoid entanglements with the townspeople!
“What kind of place in Bath?”
The little girl made a strangled sound. “Washerwoman.”
Caroline winced. It was not a promising path for a lively young girl. There were far better ways to make a living. And safer places to live than a large town like Bath. Ways and places that had a future, but clearly Mrs. Greer was desperate.
Don’t do it, Caroline! You swore not to get involved with other people!
Caroline recognized the truth of the warning, but once upon a time, she had been alone with her grandmother. When the old woman had ailed, it was a frightening time in her young life. Fortunately, Mrs. Harris had responded to Grandmama’s request for help, promising to hire Caroline when the time came. Grandmama and Mrs. Harris had been colleagues at a dress shop before Mrs. Harris had been widowed.
Once Caroline started at Baydon Hall, Miss Annabel had learned of her interest in sewing and bade Mrs. Harris to apprentice her in the arts of millinery and mantua-making. Without that assistance, someone taking a chance on her, Caroline would not have had the skills she needed to open her shop.
“Would you like to learn to sew?”
Annie looked up from her tea. Her tears were drying, but there remained little streaks down her cheeks. Caroline pulled out a handkerchief and leaned over to dab the girl’s face.
“I can sew.” Annie picked at the bodice of her dress to display a neat little darn near the sleeve.
“That is excellent work.”
