Page 1 of The Good Fortune of Miss Robbins

Part One

One

March1814

Bedfordshire,England

“Charlotte! A letter came for you!” Hattie Jacobs emerged from the back entrance of Mrs. Southey’s School for Young Ladies, waving something over her head.

I’d advertised months ago and received one reply from a Mrs. Merryweather, asking for letters of reference, which I’d supplied. Could the lady be writing to offer me a position?

I met Hattie in the middle of the garden and took the folded paper from her. It was the same address! In Berkshire, a Mrs. Merryweather of Lowndesbury House. It did not go unnoticed, either, that this letter had been franked by a peer of the realm.

“Well? Open it!” Hattie said.

I was already unfolding the paper. I skipped the initial polite greeting and read silently.

If Miss Charlotte Robbins remains unattached, we would like to offer the position of governess to her, with the salary of forty pounds per annum, for two young charges: seven-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. If this is agreeable, please respond...

I whooped and threw my hands in the air, clutching the letter.

“You have a position? Who is your employer? When do you start?” Hattie leaned her curly blond head closer.

I held the letter out so she could see it. She read aloud.

“‘If this is agreeable, please respond with a date when we might expect you at Lowndesbury House at the address on this letter. And do not bring too many possessions, as your quarters will be small and modest, but adequate. The last governess brought so many things there was not enough room to stow them. Respectfully, Mrs. Kathleen Merryweather, housekeeper to the Earl of Brookhaven.’”

Hattie gasped and grabbed my arm. “You are the new governess for the Earl of Brookhaven’s siblings.” Her eyes were wide, her mouth forming an O.

“What? Is that bad?”

“Yes!” Hattie looked positively stricken. “I told you my cousin’s friend worked as the governess there, for the earl’s half-brother and sister. The earl pays a handsome salary, to be sure, but she was dismissed after only two weeks.”

“Maybe she did something wrong.”

“I forget the particulars, but it was a very small, piddling thing—not enough to dismiss someone for. She said he was horrid, scowling all the time, and never spoke a kind word to her. I would be terrified.” Hattie clapped a hand over her mouth, then said, “Forgive me. I don’t mean to frighten you.”

“I’m not frightened. I’ve never met an earl. It should be interesting, at the very least.”

“I should have known you would say something of that sort, Charlotte.” Hattie shook her head. “You’re not afraid of anything.”

I started to protest and say that Iwasafraid of a great many things. Presently, I was afraid of getting stuck at Mrs. Southey’s school for the rest of my life. But that wouldn’t have been very kind to say, since Hattie had no other ambition than to teach here. Hattie and I werethe same age, and she was like a beloved sister to me, but sometimes I felt as if she’d been born old.

I looked at my letter again, then clutched it to my chest. I was finally going out into the world. Adventure awaited me, I just knew it.

Inside, Hattie retrieved her box of newspaper gossip columns that she’d collected. She found two that contained gossip about the Earl of Brookhaven.

The young earl had once been engaged to be married, but his fiancée ran off with a marquess. His mother and father, according to the newspapers, had had numerous paramours.

When his wife died, the older earl married a much younger woman, who died giving birth to twins, then the earl passed away a year later, and the only son of his first wife became the new Earl of Brookhaven and inherited the house, the title, and the guardianship of the twins.

The young earl was also said to be quite handsome.

Fascinating people and places were in my future. And the most cherished dream of all—that I would fall in love, marry, and have a real family—drove me forward. Now that I was leaving this place, with its limited number of people and lack of exciting things to see or do, I’d finally have a chance to experience something new and different.

I went inside, wrote my letter to Mrs. Merryweather accepting the position, and walked a half mile and into the village to post it. Then I began the process of saying goodbye to everyone I knew.

Mrs. Southey gave me an intense look. “You have a place here if you decide to return. I can always use a good teacher.”