CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE WORKROOM
The village workroom occupied the upper floor of a former coaching inn.
Its windows were broad, its floor uneven, and its chimney smoked whenever the wind turned east.
Five seamstresses waited there to meet Selena.
Their leader, Mrs. Elkin, was a small woman with silver hair and a gaze sharp enough to find a crooked seam across a crowded room.
“We have heard that you mend fine gowns,” she said.
“I mend whatever needs mending,” Selena replied.
“That is not the same as running a workroom.”
“No,” Selena agreed.
Mrs. Elkin placed a torn riding coat on the table.
“Tell me what you would do with this.”
Selena examined the damaged lining and the worn elbow.
“I would ask the owner how the coat is used before choosing the repair.”
Mrs. Elkin’s expression changed.
“Why?”
“A coat worn for riding needs to move differently from one worn for visiting.”
The women exchanged glances.
Mrs. Elkin pushed a needle toward her.
“Show us.”
Selena worked for an hour while the women questioned her about cloth, wages, apprentices, and the cost of keeping the room warm.
She answered what she knew and admitted what she did not.
At the end of the meeting,
Mrs. Elkin folded the coat.
“We can offer you a trial period,” she said.
“You will work beside the rest of us, not above us.”
“That is what I hoped,” Selena replied.
The women smiled.
When Selena left the inn, she found William waiting beside his carriage.
“Well?” he asked.
“They have offered me a trial.”
“Then congratulations are in order.”
“Not yet,” Selena said.
“I must prove useful.”
William opened the carriage door.
“I suspect you will.”
Selena stepped inside and looked back at the workroom windows.
For the first time in years, she could imagine a future that did not depend entirely on whether someone else approved of her.
