Loving Liza Jane Read Online Free PDF Page B

mail-order bridal service? They advertise those kinds of agencies out east, you know.”
    At that, he’d laughed outright, finding the entire notion bizarre and completely illogical. Men and women married for love, not convenience, didn’t they? Besides, he wasn’t even sure it was the Christian way of going about finding a woman to care for his daughters.
    But a few days later he’d seen the advertisement at the post office where John Holden kept a supply of newspapers from such places as New York and Boston, and he’d had time to rethink his position.
    “MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN AGENCY”
    CHRISTIAN Women Seeking God-Fearing Men.
Will Marry Sight Unseen Providing the Match Suits.
Prefer Courting First, However.
    Prospective Groom to Pay for Prospective Bride’s
Transportation and Room and Board
Until Said Marriage Is Performed.
    Under the eye-catching caption was a list of names of women, all desperate, no doubt, and their varied attributes. Included were such things as date of birth, physical features, background information, family history, personal talents and interests, and a host of other tidbits that would satisfy any male anxious enough to find a wife.
    Ben had laughed most of the way home that day wondering to himself what would drive someone to such extremes as to advertise her need for a husband. But then, hadn’t he been equally irrational for hovering over the ad for as long as he had, even going so far as to imagine what some of these spurned spinsters looked like? They couldn’t be shy, he mulled, for what timid woman would be so bold as to market her availability? Nor could they be exceedingly attractive, or some man would surely have snatched them up before they’d had the chance to apply at the agency.
    So why exactly had he hastily ripped the ad from the paper and stuffed it into his pocket? For all he knew, the outfit could be running an illegal racket. Under the guise of “Christian-based agency,” they could be stealing overtly enthusiastic men blind. And he could be one of them! Try to explain that to Mrs. Granger when he came crawling back to her begging for more time, admitting he’d been swindled by an imaginary marriage market.
    On the other hand, the organization could be completely legitimate, doing its best to find husbands for otherwise unmarriageable women because of their deadbeat personalities, or worse, unsightly facial birthmarks that grew hair!
    But then looks didn’t matter. Hadn’t he just told Lili that this morning?
    Later, after dropping off a disgruntled Lili and a fussy Molly at Mrs. Granger’s place, he headed up Shannon’s Peak to have a look at his grandfather’s old cabin. Might as well determine what else needed fixing, make a bank withdrawal, and purchase some essential supplies. The fields would have to wait another day.

Chapter Three
     
     
    Liza rolled over on her mattress of lumpy feathers and glanced overhead at the discolored ceiling. Across the room a window curtain waved about, signifying a gentle wind, even though no evidence of moving air quite reached her. Tossing the sheet off her warm body, she studied her surroundings before rising.
    A lone chest of drawers marked with age stood against a paint-chipped wall. Atop it rested a flowered chamber set, a pitcher and cracked basin, and on the wall above the chest hung a faded and distorted mirror in a beaded metal frame. A round, rather misshapen, colorful rug covered a good share of the gouged wood flooring, probably covering the worst of its blemishes. Next to the bed stood a wobbly table housing one kerosene lamp and a vase of dying flowers. Liza groaned then draped an arm across her forehead. If this was the best the town could offer in boardinghouses, the rest of the town sorely lacked class. Of course, she’d known that as soon as they had rolled into the place last night.
    ���Breakfast!” came a squalling voice from downstairs. Liza immediately identified it as that of Emma Browning,