Page 98 of Dawnlands

“I could start on philosophy…” Hester whispered, her admiring gaze on Mia and Gabrielle.

The footman returned and served the guests. The matter might have been left there, but Hester shot a longing glance at her aunt Alys.

“I am sorry that my sister-in-law is not well enough to see us today, but my brother—Dr. Reekie—assured me that you were capable of teaching all these subjects to the girls.” Alys sipped her small ale and found it bland. “So I will leave them here this morning, and you can see how you all get on. I’ll come back at half past two, and you can tell me if they can be taught and if you can teach them.” She rose and stood as squarely as she would stand on her own quay, agreeing a deal, her feet slightly astride, her chin jutting. “Is that agreeable, Miss Prynne?” she asked.

A half-hidden gleam from Hester and an outright wink from Mia confirmed that they knew Alys was on their side. Miss Prynne rose to her feet. “Of course, I shall do my best,” she said. “But I don’t know if it is what Mrs. Reekie intended.”

“Not here, is she?” Alys pointed out. “So let’s give it a go and see what everyone says when I come this afternoon. Perhaps she’ll be up by then. Girls—you do your best, and Miss Prynne will do hers, and we’ll see what you all make of each other.” She put out her hand to Miss Prynne with a smile. “I know they’re in good hands,” she said.

Miss Prynne’s limp hand disappeared into Alys’s firm grip.

“Good day!” Alys said cheerfully, then opened the door herself, before Miss Prynne could ring for the footman, and left them.

“Well…” Miss Prynne said, casting around for some excuse.

Hester slipped into her seat at the parlor table, and silently, Mia and Gabrielle took off their bonnets and capes and took their places. The three girls looked expectantly at the governess, waiting for her to begin. Miss Prynne cast around for the most discouraging topic she could think of.

“If you want philosophy,” she said, “I shall read you the first chapter of Thomas More’sUtopiaand you shall write for me a full page on your understanding of what you have heard.”

She disappeared from the room to go to Rob’s library next door and reappeared with the book in her hand.

“Is that Saint Thomas?” Mia asked.

She hesitated. “I believe in the papist religion he would be regarded as a saint. We have nothing to do with the papist religion in England.”

“What about the king? Isn’t he Roman Catholic?”

“Do the English not have saints?” Gabrielle asked.

“Oh, don’t we?” Hester could not contain her interest.

Miss Prynne scowled over her pince-nez at the three of them. “That is history,” she said damningly. “And rarely suitable. This is philosophy, and perhaps too difficult for the young female mind. I shall continue without interruption, if you please: ‘I was colleague and companion to that incomparable man Cuthbert Tonstal, whom the King, with such universal applause, lately made Master of the Rolls…’?”

Rob, coming home at six o’ clock, found his wife getting up for the first time in the day, the governess in a state of exhaustion, and Hester, half-hidden by the turn of the stairs, lying in wait for him.

“May my cousins come again, Papa?” she asked him, catching him as he was going into his dressing room.

“Good God! I thought you were a footpad! Jumping out at me like that!”

She giggled. “Don’t be silly, Papa,” she said severely. “I wanted to see you, before you talk to Mama.”

“Why?” he asked, scanning the flush in her face and the brightness of her eyes. He put his hand on her forehead. “You’re not feverish?”

“No, no!” she exclaimed. “I’m well! My cousins came today: Gabrielle and Mia. And they made Prynne teach us philosophy, and she hated it. But it was truly interesting, and they know so much already, I’m so behind, Papa! And we read a book from your library—a proper book—not a chapbook for children with a moral at the end. And Aunt Shore came to fetch them, and she was so funny, Papa. She said she can’t be running in and out of London every day, that she has work to do, but if they are to come regularly, she will send them in the wherryon their own. Prynne nearly died of shock, but Aunt Shore just smiled and said, ‘Why not?’ She left her love for you and sent up her good wishes to Mama.”

“Did your mama not see her?”

“No, she didn’t come down at all, and Prynne said just as well—because Aunt Shore is in trade—” She broke off, looking at him anxiously. “But I thought it just as well that Mama didn’t come down because she doesn’t like me going into your library. Prynne chose this book to put us off philosophy, but really, it didn’t, Papa. And Mia understands everything anyway.”

“She does, does she?” Rob smiled at the sudden vivacity of his daughter. “Well, it certainly looks as if you’ve enjoyed their visit.”

“And they’re so funny,” Hester told him earnestly. “Mia can wink! I nearly laughed out loud.”

“They’re not to distract from your lessons,” Rob warned. “They’re not rowdy?”

“Oh! No! No!” she promised him. “Mia winked when Aunt Shore said that we might learn difficult things. They want to study. Can I study with them?”

He put a gentle arm around her slim shoulders. “I can’t say no to you,” he told her. “But you must do your exercises and walk out every day as well. I want you strong, as well as clever. And we can’t upset your mother. Don’t you start winking!”