Rachel's Story

Chapter 9

Rachel found her nemesis in the oddest of places – the little boy Brian. She had always got on well with small boys thanks to her twin brothers, and Brian was only a year younger than them. How hard could it be? But he was really, in Mrs. Hutchens’ words, ‘another kettle of fish’. He was, simply put, the most ill-behaved child she had ever encountered in her life.

The first time she had been left in charge of Brian, he ran away within two minutes and could not be found for a whole hour despite Rachel’s agitated efforts. When he finally sauntered out of the buttery, Rachel had to undergo the ignominy of being scolded by his mother for letting the ‘poor dear’ gorge himself on cream just before dinner-time and getting so ‘bored’ that he upset all the buckets of milk in search of diversion. Rachel got the chance to see exactly why the household was in dread of its mistress, for she was unfortunate enough to rouse the sleeping tigress in Mrs. Herringford’s heart with her ‘callous neglect’ of her darling son.

When Rachel followed Brian to his room after enduring twenty minutes of such disconcerting reprimand, she found him calmly chipping away at the bed-post with a pen-knife as if nothing had happened. She faced him squarely. “Brian,” she said, “Now that I am living in this place we will be in each other’s company quite often. I want to look after you like a friend, not an enemy. Don’t you think that would be advisable?”

The child looked back at her with uninterested eyes, before returning his attention to the defacement of the wood before him. “Why should I care?” he asked curtly. “You will have to leave if I don’t feel like being with you. I will have another nursemaid. It does not concern me at all.”

“But don’t you want to get along with those around you? Life will be much more comfortable for all of us if we can live in amity.” Rachel pleaded with him some more in the same vein, trying to make him see reason. But Brian kept on chipping away serenely, simply adding, “But you won’t be around me if you get thrown out, you know. And so you will be, if I don’t like you.” He looked at her triumphantly and Rachel suddenly shivered, feeling all the misery of a paid servant who can be dismissed at the whims of a mere boy.

Still then, she was lucky. Since she was not specifically appointed to look after him, Brian’s disapproval could not get her dismissed from the house where her real pupils showed such progress. It also could not make that protective mother, Mrs. Herringford, look around for a new nurse-maid even though she sympathized that the ‘angel’ could not take to Miss Warren like his two sisters; it only made her absolutely forbid the harassed governess from punishing her darling baby. All of Rachel’s efforts to interest him in productive activities and to understand his thought processes resulted in resounding failure. Tantrums often occurred without any cause, and would continue till Brian grew bored with his own antics; then he would simply get up from the rug on which he had been asphyxiating himself with howls and walk off.

Thus, Brian remained the one serious canker in Rachel’s garden. She just blessed her stars that she had been hired as a governess for Alicia and Diana rather than a nursemaid for the terror, and dreaded the times when she was put in charge of him.

The girls had fulfilled all Rachel’s expectations, and showed themselves to be apt scholars. Since their curriculum underwent Rachel’s drastic modifications, they became more attentive towards and happy with their studies; and they simply loved the music sessions. Both mastered the breathing exercises necessary for playing wind instruments and, after rapidly learning the mechanics of the wooden flute and professing themselves keen to do more with the instrument, coaxed their indulgent father into sending for the coveted crystal flute. They were already practicing one of the new duet songs on the two flutes, and the pianoforte was getting equally regular exercise with the inclusion of English folk airs, Italian compositions and works by the Austrian composer Mozart in their repertoire. Their handful of performances during formal parties had been successful in gaining public applause and Mrs. Herringford’s approval. Rachel felt foolishly vindicated.