10

The next morning, in overcast daylight, the mountains lay shrouded in fog. Ginny spent a busy morning with chores. Eight guests were renting rooms. Six had checked out that morning and eight more had come asking for rooms. 

Pete would be pleased with her management when he returned. He would have a nice profit from his share of the business. 

She’d been so busy, she’d pocketed the coins she received from the new guests. Tired of having them rattling in her pockets, she decided to place them in the safe which sat on a shelf behind the check-in desk. She knelt down and dialed the combination. When it swung open, she gasped in disbelief to find it empty, all of the gold she had placed there gone. 

For a moment, Ginny was too stunned to think. She sat stupidly before the vacant cavern with the hope that her eyes were deceiving her. When she looked again and found nothing, she understood. 

Someone had broken in, had stolen everything accrued since Pete had built the hotel. She struggled to think who’d stayed long enough to have had the opportunity to break into the safe. 

She didn’t like where her thoughts turned. She had seen Charles behind the counter last night. He had explained he that someone had come in and he was looking for guest book to register them for her.

When there was no one there, he explained they had gone to supper and would be back later. Now she realized Charles had taken advantage of her being elsewhere in her duties.

She sat in front of the safe and sobbed in anger and despair. She could hardly leave the hotel and go after the burglars. Whoever had done this had left her nearly destitute. She would need supplies within the next two weeks and had only the coins in her pocket to purchase them. 

She wiped her eyes when one of the prospectors entered. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We’ve been robbed!” 

“Good for nothing varmints. I’ll ask around and see if anyone is bragging or has more money than they should. If it’s possible to do it, I’ll get your money back.”

She thanked the kind, grizzled man and hoped he would succeed. Yet, deep in her heart, she knew her prospects were slim. 

She read the Bible often during the next few days. She found comfort in the verses, putting into perspective the importance of things in this world. She had lost all of her money, but she had not lost the opportunity to claim for herself the Lord’s promise of eternal life. Moths, or rust, or thieves, would not steal this away. What was money compared to this?

Having made the decision to ask Jesus into her life, she felt deep peace. She placed her future in God’s hands and knew that whatever happened, He would never leave her alone.