Parthena's Promise Read Online Free PDF Page B

to feel trapped and had no wish to be incarcerated here or in a gaol.
    Thena put her hand inside her bag and as quickly as she could found the coin she sought and offered it up for the woman to take. Instead, the mother superior slowly sat back in the chair and stared at her.
    “We gave you the room and board free of any charge. We are not running a boarding house here or a shelter for waifs and strays as they pass by. I take it from this you have no wish to join our order as a novice.”
    Thena swallowed, she nearly dropped the bag at the thought and the desire to take to her heels and run was very strong. “I merely sought shelter. If it was freely given, then I thank you for your charity and ask that you accept this as a donation so that you can help a waif or stray who needs it and who is unable to offer payment of any kind.”
    “We thought we were,” she said. “So tell me who it is who turns up desperate at our door and then offers to pay handsomely for our hospitality.”
    The woman gestured that she should leave the coin on the desk.
    “I would bid you good day,” Thena answered and turned to leave, but her exit was blocked by a nun whose ample figure all but filled the width of the doorway. She made no attempt to move, but folded her arms and stared at Thena. One finger gestured that she should about turn and face the mother superior. Thena felt intimidated, she wanted to protest, but the last thing she needed was more trouble or suspicion thrown upon her. Although this interview was not going well, perhaps she had used the wrong tone.
    Thena turned around. “I merely wish to leave and not trouble you further,” she said and smiled. “You have not given me your name, either.” Thena stared back at the woman.
    “You never asked, but my name is Mother Marisa and I merely wish to know who it is that has slept under our roof in my care and who now wishes to leave in such a hurried fashion.” She leaned forward, her voice slightly gentler, but the look in her eyes as intense.
    “My name is Miss Parthena Munro, now may I leave?” Thena held the woman’s gaze, but cursed her own stupidity – she had given her real name, without thinking. But then this was a house of God; how could she lie and expect Him to protect her as she bumbled along on her present path of folly?
    “From where did you come and why did you not go to the inn for rooms with such coin in your purse?” The woman studied her with a set expression that revealed her curiosity.
    Thena realised that she had most likely rifled carefully through her bag so she knew if she told the truth or had the audacity to lie to her face. “I had an unfortunate experience. I was supposed to take a position of governess, but found that the family had moved on by the time I arrived. Messages and letters had apparently crossed. I was left with nowhere to stay and nowhere to find suitable alternative accommodation.” Thena thought she saw a flicker of amusement in the woman’s eyes, but she was unsure. If she had read the letter of introduction in her belongings then Mother Marisa knew she told the truth, at least about that.
    “This family were here in Gorebeck?” the sister behind her persisted.
    Thena did not bother to turn around so she answered the woman’s question directly to the mother superior.
    “No, it was a respectable household over in the village of Beckton, in Beckton Dale.”
    “You cannot have walked all this way by road – who helped you? A passing farmer?” The woman sat forward. “Have you any idea of the danger you put yourself in? Could you not use your money to catch a coach to wherever you originally hailed from?”
    Thena looked at her and decided she was in the best place to make a giant leap of faith – she would tell the truth – almost. “I walked over the old trods from Beckton to Gorebeck. I was at the Abbey School as a child and crossed the moors when the supplies were taken to market. I’d remembered it from