“Mr. McGillvray has known Mrs. Jessie Morison for many years as the sole household help and personal attendant of a lately deceased lady, Mrs. Bruce of Ashfield. She was much valued and trusted by her late mistress, and so far as Mr. McGillvray had opportunity to observe, she was attentive and punctilious in the discharge of all her duties.”
The minister’s testimonial was longer and stronger. The Rev. John Black, of the Established Manse, Mickleton, addressing the unknown as “Dear Sir or Madam,” said that he had very much pleasure in recommending Mrs. Jessie Morison to anybody who would appreciate faithful service such as she had rendered for twenty years to employers who had owed most of their comfort and security to her diligence and devotion. He also knew Mrs. Jessie Morison to be a kind and helpful neighbour. He sincerely hoped that she might find a new sphere in which her capacities and qualities might prove useful to others and beneficial to herself.
“These seem very satisfactory,” said Lucy.
“If you don’t think she is too old, you should be satisfied,” murmured Florence, who had looked over the testimonials while Mrs. Challoner read them.
“Only it is more satisfactory to have a personal reference,” Lucy went on. After what she had recently seen and heard, this seemed so much too good to be true that it flashed across her mind it might be a case of personation. Yet when she looked up at the douce, middle-aged face, she rebuked herself for the suspicion.
Jessie Morison did not resent the hesitation.
“I know it’s awkward,” she admitted; “but you might write to the gentlemen. I tell you they promised me they would answer any question.”
Lucy reflected. She did not see how that would help her. If there was anything unsound in the matter, more written testimonials would thicken the plot rather than clear it. Yet how natural and inevitable the circumstances seemed! How wrong it would be to let this nice woman slip through her fingers merely for the sake of a mere convention!
“Is there nobody within reach who can say a word for you?” she suggested.
“Well, ma’am,” said Jessie Morison anxiously, “of course, there’s my cousins; but I didn’t like to mention them, because most ladies would think relations don’t count for much. They’re highly respectable. He’s got a shop, and they’ve lived in the same house for years, and everybody knows them.”