All Things New by Lynn Austin

she carried a bale of hay on her back. “Stand up straight, please,” Eugenia said. “You’ll have to dress quickly. Mary can help you with your hair.”
    Eugenia returned to her bedroom to fetch a pair of shoes, wondering where she had gone wrong with Josephine. She would always be a plain girl, to be sure, even dressed in silk and lace. She had limp brown hair and a broad face, both characteristic of Philip’s side of the family. Josephine had grown from a child to a woman during the war, at a time when day-to-day survival had been more urgent than developing womanly charms. Along the way, she had acquired several bad habits that needed to be changed, such as slouching instead of standing tall, and wearing a frown instead of a smile. She was also much too timid, hesitant to take part in the simplest of conversations. And she liked to wander off alone, as she had this morning. Worst of all, Josephine had no idea at all how to behave around young men, even though the competition for husbands would be fierce. She could practice with Harrison Blake today.
    “Here. Try on these shoes, Josephine,” she said as she swept back into the girls’ room with a pair of her own. Jo grimaced as she tried to force one of the shoes onto her foot.
    “They’re too small.”
    “Well, I’m sorry but they will have to do. And please do not make that face, dear. It is most unbecoming.”
    They were ready at last, but Eugenia’s weariness seemed to have settled deeper into her bones. She led the way down the sweeping staircase and found Daniel waiting for them out front with the carriage. He looked tired and defeated, as if he had arrived home from the war only a moment ago. Eugenia wished she knew how to change him back into the happy, carefree young man he once had been. It would take time, she told herself. Give him time.
    “I’m sorry, but I can’t come with you today,” he said as he helped Eugenia into the carriage. “There is too much work to be done.”
    Eugenia caressed his shoulder. “I understand, dear.” But she wondered what, exactly, Daniel planned to do. He spent hoursin Philip’s office or out in the stables but nothing ever changed. They still had no bacon for breakfast, and her stomach continued to rumble in hunger.
    “Listen, Daniel. Please talk to the other planters when you get a chance and find out where we can purchase some hogs. Aren’t they born this time of the year, during the spring?”
    “I suppose so. What will I use for money?”
    “Leave that to me, dear.” There must be something left among her hidden valuables, something she could trade. “I intend to have bacon in our smokehouse again,” she said. “We may have to wait for the animals to fatten up, but by this time next year we’ll be eating ham for Easter dinner like always.”
    “I’ll see what I can do, Mother.” Daniel trudged up the steps into the house as Otis flicked the reins. They were finally on their way.
    Eugenia paid calls to two neighboring plantations first, saving her visit with Priscilla Blake for last. She was surprised when neither Priscilla nor her servant came out to greet them. Eugenia knocked, then opened the door to her friend’s house and sailed inside with her daughters trailing behind her like ducklings. Priscilla must be home. With no transportation she couldn’t have gone anywhere.
    “Priscilla?” she called. “It’s me, Eugenia.” The front parlor looked dingy with the curtains drawn closed. The dining room table and sideboard were dusty and unpolished. Eugenia continued down the hall and finally found her friend in the basement kitchen, of all places, washing her own dishes.
    “Priscilla? For goodness’ sake, what are you doing? Where is your servant girl?”
    “She quit several days ago. Harrison threw a plate at her and . . . and she quit like all the others.”
    Eugenia folded her friend in an embrace. “You poor dear. I’ll talk to our Lizzie. Maybe she knows someone who can help