Chapter 14
The knock at the door came just as Maria was helping Mrs. Elizabeth clear the tea things, and Mrs. Elizabeth went to answer it, wiping her hands on her apron as she went.
"Evening," a woman's voice said from the doorway. "I'm hoping you might have a room."
"I'm sorry, dear, I'm full up just now." Mrs. Elizabeth's voice was kind but definite. "You'll want to try Mrs. Shelbourne, two streets over. Follow this road down past the church and you can't miss it."
"Thank you," the woman said, and Maria, glancing over from the kitchen table, caught only a brief look at her, a traveling dress dusty from the road, a face turned half away toward the street beyond.
The door closed, and Mrs. Elizabeth came back to the table, picking up where she'd left off with the teacups, though she paused a moment, something crossing her face.
"That's odd," she said.
"What is?"
"That woman. Something about her face." Mrs. Elizabeth shook her head slightly, like she was trying to shake a thought loose. "She had a look of Livvy about her. Samson's Livvy. Isn't that strange, us only just talking of her, and then a stranger shows up at my door wearing her face, near enough."
Maria felt something small and cold move through her, though she couldn't have said exactly why. "A relation, maybe?"
"Might be. Livvy never spoke much of family, not that I recall.
But there's a resemblance you don't often see between strangers.
" Mrs. Elizabeth set the last cup down, still frowning slightly at the thought.
"Well. Whoever she is, she's Mrs. Shelbourne's guest now, not mine. Probably nothing in it at all."
She said it lightly enough, but Maria noticed she glanced once more toward the door before she turned back to the washing up, and the small cold feeling in her chest didn't entirely go away.