The Perfect Finish

Chapter Eight - Perry

Perry Haversham was only a few years old when the doctors of the time, in consultation with his nanny, declared him to be backward in intellect. 

At four years he had only spoken a few words, and despite a course of special treatment from the physicians of the time he was no more advanced at the age of seven. While he had played well enough with his brother Kay, he did not mix well with other children. A succession of governesses failed to make any headway. The evidence was quite clear.

In truth, the spoiled offspring of the Earl and Countess of Chellam were all difficult to teach, and the governess's job was made much easier by the acknowledgement that they were not expected to make headway with the young Peregrine.

The Countess of Chellam was not a maternal creature. She was fond enough of Kay, but Perry she considered a failure and an embarrassment. Two more children had died in infancy, with her darling Julia coming between them. Vester, the youngest, also received little of her attention.

In actuality, Perry's intellect was perfectly sound. His principle difficulty was an inability to turn his thoughts into words: despite the ideas and questions which crowded his head, his mouth simply failed to produce the requisite sounds to express his ideas: at least not in the time his caregivers were prepared to wait. His inability to express had honed his sensitivity to moods and attitudes in others, and the recognition of their impatience with him made it harder for Perry to overcome his impediment. 

He took their judgement on board, accepted early that he was slow and considerately kept out of everyone's notice as much as possible.

It was only the Earl himself who still doubted the judgement on Perry. He himself had been a reticent child, having some natural difficulty with speech which was still present to a small extent. When his second son turned twelve the Earl personally arranged for a private tutor, to see if anything could be done for the boy away from the women.

The plan achieved results beyond his wildest hopes. The tutor, a younger son of a clergyman, was an intuitive young man who soon began to appreciate Perry's true character. His biggest challenge was in overcoming the boy's own perception of himself as inadequate. 

Within a few years Perry was making great headway with his study, could read and write and add up, and the tutor could state positively to his Lordship that Perry was not the idiot he had been considered to be. The crowning moment came when the tutor showed the Earl an essay on government of the metropolis which Perry had written as a study task, demonstrating an understanding of public affairs equal to any other fifteen-year-old one might find.

As a result, the Earl put the young tutor in the way of a position in a well-known public school and Perry was sent to Eton with his brother.

The boy still met with great difficulty. His inability to string sentences together, particularly when under stress, was met with the same judgement at Eton as in his family schoolroom. The schoolmasters themselves recognised his capability, but socially Perry was not a success. 

It was at Eton that he first learned to present himself so immaculately that not a single criticism could ever be levelled at him. He interested himself in matters of fashion and good taste, developed a polite distance that was infinitely more acceptable to his peers than an inability to communicate, and found himself comfortably on the fringes of good company through being generally unobjectionable. 

He passed from Eton to Cambridge easily enough, and emerged into adult life with an honorary degree in politics and history, after which he settled into an idle existence at the parental home where he was still deemed to be a slowtop who could not make his own decisions even if forced to it.