The Paid Companion | Herophine

Chapter Four

Josephine

"It is just barely possible that my streak of ex tremely bad luck is about to come to an end." Josephine sank gratefully into the depths of the wingback chair and smiled at the two women perched on the sofa across from her.

She had first met Lucy Colyer and Charlotte Atwater six months before, in the offices of Goodhew & Willis. The three of them had arrived on the same day, seeking employment as companions. After a particularly trying after noon of interviews, Josephine had suggested that they all go to the tea shop just around the corner and commiserate.

As it happened the three of them were quite different in temperament, but that fact paled in comparison to the things that they did have in common: They were all in their mid-twenties, well past the age when a good marriage was still a viable option. They were all from respectable backgrounds; well-bred and well educated. And due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances, all three found themselves alone in the world and without resources.

In short, they shared the common bonds that drove women such as themselves into the paid companion profession.

That first afternoon tea together had become a regular Wednesday affair. After they had obtained posts, Wednesday was the one day of the week that each of them had free.

For the past few months they had been meeting here in the parlor of Lucy's elderly employer, Mrs. Blancheflower. It was not an environment calculated to lift one's spirits, in Josephine's opinion, and she knew the others did not find it particularly cheerful either.

The atmosphere was one of intense gloom due to the fact that Mrs. Blancheflower was dying somewhere upstairs. Fortunately for Lucy, who had been hired to keep the lady company in her remaining days, her employer was taking her time about making her transition to a higher plane.

As Mrs. Blancheflower slept most of the time, Lucy had found her post to be quite undemanding. The chief drawback was that her employer's relatives, who seldom came to call, had decreed that the housekeeper maintain a suitably funereal décor. That meant that there was a great deal of black cloth hung everywhere. In addition, the drapes were always kept pulled tightly closed to ensure that no hint of cheerful spring sunlight could squeeze into the somber rooms.

While the gloom weighed on one, Josephine and her friends endured it every Wednesday because there was one very significant advantage to holding their visits here: The tea and cakes were free, thanks to Mrs. Blancheflower's unknowing largesse. That meant that the three women could all save a few pennies.

Josephine had asked Hero to allow her to tell her friends the truth about her new post and had assured him that neither of them went about in Society. Lucy's employer was on her deathbed and Charlotte's was an elderly widow who was confined to her house by a failing heart. "Not that either of them would breathe a word about my role even if they were to encounter someone who was acquainted with you, sir," she had added with great certainty.

Hero had seemed quite satisfied, even unconcerned with her friends' ability to keep silent about her role as his phony fiancée. He truly was not the least bit worried about them spreading gossip, for the simple reason that he knew full well that no one in Society would pay any attention to such a wild rumor put about by a couple of impoverished paid companions. Who would take Lucy's and Charlotte's word over that of a wealthy, powerful earl?

Lucy and Charlotte had at first been astonished by the news that she was to play the role of Hero Fiennes Tiffin's fiancée and live in his house. But after learning that she would be properly chaperoned by one of his lordship's female relatives, they had concluded that the post was a very exciting one.