CHAPTER 5
Minutes after she had put up her framed sampler over her bedstead, a knock on her door warned her about the entry of the maid into her room, and she bade the girl to enter. With a bashful smile at the new member of the household, the maid, who said that her name was Rosie, put down a jug of hot water on the little basin in the corner and started straightening the bed-clothes. She was slight of figure and about Rachel’s own height, wore big spectacles (which seemed an odd thing for a maid to possess), and had tightly bound dark hair under a modest cap. She had a smile on her face at all times and Rachel liked her at first glance, though she seemed to be rather quiet. After finishing her chores with an efficient air she inquired demurely, “Would that be all Miss, or would you be requiring anything else?”
“No thank you, Rosie. You have done a very good job, and as it is I have received more pampering than is good for me, if my mother is to be believed,” said Rachel with a big grin. Rosie looked up at her with interest in her eyes and a reciprocating smile glinting in their depths.
Emboldened, Rachel pressed on.“I have always made my own bed till now; Mama drilled it into us children from the age of seven.”
“It is fine Miss, and this is after all my job. I am happy to have pleased you.” With a sedate curtsey, Rosie backed out of the room and Rachel hurried through her toilet, making her way to the kitchen. There she found the kindly Mrs. Talcott directing the other maid Sally, who was balancing a steaming bowl of porridge and a dish of buttered crumpets on two silver trays on the way to the breakfast room. Mrs. Talcott spared a smile for Rachel amid her managerial duties, and drew her towards a kitchen chair after Sally had sailed forth under her burden.
“Come in my dear. Sorry for all that, but our recent lack of a footman has suddenly put tasks like waiting on the family on the shoulders of these girls, and they need a firm guiding hand to ensure an absence of accidents.” She beamed amiably, and brandished a skillet. “What would you like to eat on your first morning here? And anyway, what is your name? I could only catch the ‘Miss Warren’ rigmarole, and I really like knowing people’s given names since they are so much friendlier.”
“My name is Rachel Mrs. Talcott, and I would really prefer to be known by that name since that’s who I have been all my life. And I would love to take you up on your offer – something smells absolutely delicious and I did not have much to eat last night. I will have whatever you can provide at the earliest!”
Chuckling lightly, Mrs. Talcott turned around to the cooking range and whipped up a massive omelette for the hungry girl behind her. When Rachel was finishing her food, Mrs. Hutchens bustled into the room with a harassed air. Seeing the new governess, she addressed her with a start of surprise.
“Fancy finding you here, Miss Warren! I was just about to send Rosie off to your room. The mistress has sent word that you are to meet her in the parlour in ten minutes’ time, after which you can meet the children and start your teaching.”
Rachel nodded and gulped down the rest of her food, her appetite diminishing at an alarming rate with every passing minute.
Xxxxx
A polished maple door led into the handsomely fitted parlour, but Rachel was too nervous to notice anything much about the room other than the woman occupying it. Mrs. Norma Herringford was a petite ash-blonde woman, whose stormy grey eyes seemed to be forever appraising Rachel from behind their sweeping lashes. She may not be strictly beautiful, but there was a strange attractiveness in the stillness of her limbs, and nobility in the elegance of her precise voice. She made Rachel feel instinctively uneasy. Though their opening conversation about Rachel’s journey and educational prowess was amiable enough, the latter felt that the older woman was judging her already and was finding her sadly deficient.
Her suspicions were proved when Mrs. Herringford said suddenly, “How old are you in fact, Miss Warren? I must admit that you seem to be barely older than my Diana. I am beginning to wonder if you will be firm enough with their studies. What would you do if they flout your authority?”
Though she resented the abruptness of the question, Rachel had to admit that it was well-deserved, since she herself used to worry about this fact in her bed at nights. But now, she raised her head and met those grey eyes with her ocean-colored ones.
“I am nineteen years old, Madam. I agree that it is only five years older than your elder daughter, but I believe that authority does not necessarily come with age; it follows after both parties agree to mutually respect each other as individuals with the right to voice their concerns. I think that my youth, instead of hindering any progress with my charges, may actually help to bridge the distance that necessarily occurs between student and teacher. I’ll be able to sympathize with their thoughts, since I myself know what it is to dream and resent adults who can’t understand those dreams. If they ever flout my authority, it will not bother me as much as it might bother someone who is older than their mother and believes herself to be above mutiny; and I trust that I can work around any ideas of injured superiority to make the girls see my side of things.”
Rachel paused to draw a breath, and watched Mrs. Herringford covertly as she assimilated the governess’ impromptu speech. It must have found approval since she simply gave a curt nod and went on to discuss timings and pay.
“You will teach the girls every morning from ten, to one in the afternoon. I would like you to take your lunch with them as you will need to become comfortable in each other’s presence – however, you may take your breakfasts and dinners wherever you please. In the evenings, you must accompany your charges on a walk or ride regularly, as they require all the exercise they can get. You must entertain them to the best of your ability indoors on rainy evenings. It is your duty to see that my daughters become well-mannered and happy girls whom I can introduce in society without embarrassment. Therefore, they must learn social graces besides the academic subjects you will teach them.
“That is all I require from you; and of course, you must be on hand if I need your services for Brian…he doesn’t have a full-time nurse at the moment since the last girl left suddenly. You will be paid ten shillings on a weekly basis and can have the Sundays off, though I would prefer it if you would take the children to Church in the morning. If you ever need to go to London or any other place outside Denbries, you can take the next Monday morning off. I trust I have covered all the necessary points?”
“Yes Madam,” said Rachel with a grateful nod. Even if her Sundays were legitimately hers and therefore the compensation of Monday mornings was only just, she suspected that the requirements of governesses were not high in priority. The Herringfords could have easily monopolized all her time and she could not have hoped for any redress of her cause.
Therefore, she thanked Norma Herringford and, on being dismissed with a gracious incline of the latter’s head, dropped a curtsey and retreated from the parlour as soon as possible. She gave a shaky smile to kindly Mrs. Hutchens who was peering anxiously from the kitchen, and heaved a deep breath. The first milestone of the day was over; now, for the girls.
Xxxxx
Rachel found the schoolroom after only a couple of wrong turns. Smoothing down her hair, she stood outside the sturdy door for a moment and tried to collect her thoughts. First impressions are very decisive, she told herself with a mental gulp. If they ever get to know how scared I am feeling inside, they will never respect me. On the other hand, a formidable expression will scare them. Therefore, I must appear capable as well as approachable.
She took a deep breath (she mused that she seemed to be doing this a lot lately), and remembered how her two brothers always told her that she was a great teacher and could ‘beat the one at school any day’. She told herself that she was a nice person and the girls would not take an instant dislike to her (now we are getting maudlin Rachie, keep a hold on your thoughts!) and, finally deciding that dithering would serve no conceivable purpose except to make the prospect of outdoors more tempting by the instant, she squared her shoulders and stepped inside.
The schoolroom was large and airy, with a picture window facing the door. Mercifully, it was draped with curtains at the moment to prevent reluctant scholars from daydreaming about the same outdoors which was now tempting the teacher so much. The room was painted in a soft cream with touches of coffee in the furniture and rugs. Perched on twin chairs with desks in front of them were the two girls. Rachel surveyed them covertly. Her entry had not been noticed by her new students and hence, she got to see them naturally before they could become formal for her sake.
One girl was bending over her desk, drawing something on a bit of paper in front of her. She was surrounded by similar scraps of paper and by squinting a bit, Rachel could make out intricately detailed figures and animals on them. The girl herself was tiny in stature, and her long chestnut hair fell in two fat plaits down her back. She had a pale heart-shaped face with sweet hazel eyes, a rosebud mouth and a gentle frown between her brows as she contemplated the picture taking shape before her. She would occasionally twirl one of her plaits in her hands as she filled in details with sure strokes of the pen in front of her. Rachel noticed that she sketched with her school pen instead of the charcoal pencils preferred by artists, and stored the information away in her mind to be used later.
“You should really be picking up all these pieces of paper before Miss Warren comes, Aly my sweet,” said the other occupant of the room. She added with a giggle, “We do not want her to think that we are slovenly in our habits, or that you care more about doodling than studying, do we?”
Rachel turned to look at the other girl (Diana to be sure, if the first girl was ‘Ally’). At first she appeared to be just sitting idly, but then Rachel noticed that she was actually contemplating her sister at her work with a loving smile. She seemed every inch the protective elder sister, and yet her insisting on Alicia picking up after herself showed that she was not blindly doting on the younger child. Rachel nodded approvingly. Diana knew how to balance her emotions and actions from an early stage of her life; this hinted at a promising intelligence.
She had the ash-blonde hair of her mother, but hers fell down in waves from a Madonna brow unlike her mother’s straight hair that was bound up in a tasteful chignon. Her azure eyes were as alert as her sister’s were dreamy, but they did not seem to be piercing like her mother’s. With a figure that was already attaining an hour-glass shape, Rachel could see why Diana was considered as the beauty of the family even though little Alicia showed promise of a different kind of beauty later on.
Suddenly the observant eyes of Diana swiveled around, and she beheld Rachel standing in the doorway. With a flustered squeak entirely out of character, she stood up hurriedly and dropped a quick curtsey, making sure that Alicia also saw that the new governess had finally arrived.