Mrs. Lidderdale was able to stay on at the Vicarage for several weeks,
because the new Vicar of Nancepean was not able to take over his charge
immediately. This delay gave her time to hold a sale of her father's
furniture, at which the desire of the neighbours to be generous fought
with their native avarice, so that in the end the furniture fetched
neither more nor less than had been expected, which was little enough.
She kept back enough to establish herself and Mark in rooms, should she
be successful in finding some unfurnished rooms sufficiently cheap to
allow her to take them, although how she was going to live for more than
two years on what she had was a riddle of which after a month of
sleepless nights she had not found the solution.
In the end, and as Mrs. Lidderdale supposed in answer to her prayers,
the solution was provided unexpectedly in the following letter:
Haverton House,
Elmhurst Road,
Slowbridge.
November 29th.
Dear Grace,
I have just received a letter from James written when he was at the
point of death in Africa. It appears that in his zeal to convert
the heathen to Popery he omitted to make any provision for his wife
and child, so that in the event of his death, unless either your
relatives or his relatives came forward to support you I was given
to understand that you would be destitute.
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