The thirty-third was read and considered.
It came from a highly respectable woman, the widow of a poor Baptist minister. Her age, her character, her competency and her references were all unexceptionable—so much so that old Mrs. Lyon seemed to think that the Lord had created the Baptist minister’s widow for the especial purpose of providing her with a housekeeper.
But there was a drawback.
The widow, Mrs. Sterling, had an “encumbrance,” as a child is cruelly called—a little girl, aged six years, from whom she was unwilling to part. In mentioning this “item,” Mrs. Sterling had said that, if allowed to bring her child, she would consent to come at half the salary offered by Mrs. Lyon.
The old lady pondered over the letter. She was very anxious to have the housekeeper, but she did not want the “encumbrance.”
Finally, as she could not come to any decision unaided, she took up the letter and waddled off to the old judge’s “study,” where he kept his law books and documents, and where he read the newspapers, and smoked or dozed the greater part of the day, but where he never “studied” for an hour.
She sat down and read the letter to him, and then said:
“You see she is just exactly the sort of woman that I want—and a clergyman’s widow, too—so respectable. If I were to advertise, and keep on advertising for a year, I might not meet with another so suitable.”
“Well, then, engage her at once,” said the Chief Justice with more promptness of decision than he had often brought to bear upon his law cases.
“Yes, but there’s a difficulty.”