About this story
Mrs. Bloomfield promises firmness without indulgence and precious little else — no welcome, no tea, and no real authority over seven-year-old Tom, who greets you with a whip and a nest of stolen fledglings he means to keep. By the time Mrs. Bloomfield asks you to prove you can manage him, the household has already left you nothing to manage him with.
How it opens
Winter rain found the weak slate above the parsonage study and tapped into a basin.
Mr GreyThe merchant has failed, and the money I borrowed is gone with his ships.
Mrs Grey set down her sewing without asking which comfort must be sold first.
Choose
Let me seek a place as a governess.
I can help bear what the investment cost us.