By L. B. Lender
Date: 23 May 2000

Her Manifest Destiny---pg.1

Her Manifest Destiny:

                                  A Romantic Round Robin

                                  By: Angel P. Aflame & L.B. Lender



                               1.    

                                                   She was alone---penniless and destitute in a city her father had called Godless…Chastity Wilde  sat quietly in a corner of the public room, trying to sort her thoughts. Her mother had been carried off by Yellow Jack---could it have only been a week ago? The place was noisy---but she was safe enough there till the sun set…and by then she must be gone---because the rough men would come in search of the doxies---and many would see only a girl with chestnut hair, wide green eyes, and a shape so ripe her modest gown could ill conceal. Not for the first time, she wished to have been born plain---instead, she the preacher's daughter was born to beauty. Her father regarded her with disdain---Eve reborn to his house, he said---a temptress waiting to lead men to sin….

                                                   What sin that was, she did not know. She only knew that Washington was a dreadful place---still swampy, buggy and hot---and filled with those who would offer no quarter to an orphan girl alone and afraid. She hoped for a position in a house---was willing to accept the most menial tasks, at meager pay---but they turned her away…and now she was down to her last pennies--not enough to cover a night's lodging---barely enough for a meal---if she supped lightly.

                                                     She cradled a mug of untasted tea. It gave her the right to sit by the fire undisturbed---at least for a bit…and she thought about what the gruff, but kindly cook had shared with her at the last house she had tried.

              "Aye Lass---yer  young and strong, and willing---I can see that---but the master has a roving eye, he does---and if we covered yer  face with a gunny sack, and draped ye over with old rags, still he would sight ye fer a beauty….the mistress would hate ye…and ye would come to misery…so be off   with ye…and may God Almighty pertect ye from the vermin…."

                                                 She was absorbed in the thought---so much that she failed to hear the tred of boots that suddenly stopped before her. Only when a hand reached out and lifted a bit of her hair was she aware of the intruder….
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