“It was my great grandfather who built the house and my grandfather who designed and constructed the park. I’m proud ofboth.”
Susan felt it was time toleave.
“Sir, I must get home. Now that my sister is no longer living at home it’s just my mother and me who keep the household running, and I’ll need to assist her in preparing supper for thisevening.”
“Then I shan’t keep you. Good day, MissSusan.”
* * *
It wasthe first day at the beginning of the school year. Susan had a class of girls in the morning and a class of boys in the afternoon. Each class consisted of children of all ages. It was not that easy designing a curriculum to serve the range of ages, without shortchanging one age group or another. Susan had struggled with this fact her entire teaching career, and she had ideas about how to solve this problem, but the school officials were deaf to her suggestions and didn’t allow her to make any changes to the established ways ofteaching.
As expected, the class of girls was easier to teach. All the girl’s parents wanted was for them to be taught how to read, and write—along with a healthy dose of deportment thrown in for good measure. The idea was to let them be serviceable, but not trulyeducated.
But the boys were another matter, altogether. First, they tended not to respect a female teacher. They were rowdy and rambunctious and difficult to control. And while it was desirable to have the boys taught more, it was also more difficult to get them to learn. Susan had had to learn to be tough with them to get them to respecther.
“Billy Clark, if you don’t pay attention, you are going to be in the most hideous trouble. Turn around in your desk and stop bothering Georgie. Right now, you hear me? I swear I’m not above using a switch on your tenderbehind.”
The class roared withlaughter.
“Yes, Miss Wilton,” Billy said, turning around and blushingred.
“Right. Now then, multiplicationtables.”
The class began reciting. “One times one is one. Two times two is four. Three times three isnine.”
And once again the limitations of this method were becoming clear, as the older boys already knew all these tables, and were bored and restless. But she was restrained by the school’s lesson plan as to what she could teach andwhen.
This, Susan realized, was a strong motivation to accept Aunt Clarissa’s offer. But she couldn’t help but wonder how the Duke would react to her unconventional teaching methods if she chose to implement them. And as the recitation droned on, she decided she would need to commit her ideas to writing. She would draw up a strong argument for her teaching methods to present to theDuke.
But she still had reservations about caring for Elizabeth. Not her actual care, exactly, but rather the fact that she would need to reside at Haverford House. It would mean leaving her family with no one to assist her mother and father except for their single domestic, Julie. She would definitely need to consider that fact and discuss it withthem.
* * *
When Susan returnedfrom school that afternoon her first letter from Daniel was waiting for her. Mamma was all atwitter, and anxious for Susan to open and read it as soon as she entered the house. But Susan did not want to share the letter until she had read italone.
“Thank you, Mamma, but I’d like to make a cup of tea and read it in my room—if you don’tmind.”
Mother pursed her lips and shook out her apron. “If you must,” she grumped and turned away to ignoreher.
She was anticipating reading the letter, as she made the tea, and took her time to enjoy the anticipation. When she was finished, she went up to her room and curled up in the window seat and opened the letter, setting the cup of tea on the window sill besideher.
My DearestMissSusan,
(Forgive the Miss—we must be beyond that now,yes?)
Tomorrow is my first port of call and I promised you a letter. I am so sorry I was unable to write you when I left for sea, but I was pushed for time, as I needed to check out the Resolute before we sailed, and had to pass on my good-byes through my family’sletter.
Land ho, the Bos’n just cried. We had a fair wind and port is at hand, so I must hurry this letteralong.
Our first port is Genoa so you at least know I am in theMediterranean.
Susan, know that I think of you often. Even though our recent acquaintance has been short, I savor and treasure the moments we shared in our short week together. I think of our dancing together and the warmth of your smile. These keep me going through long nightsalone.
And I want you to know that I made some inquiries about what we discussed during our last meeting together. And I have inquired about the availability of naval postings at English ports. There are openings, but it would mean a land job. My days of sailing would be over. And the possibility of advancement would be limited. That is a very difficult decision for me to make, but I am not averse to consideringit.
I have also inquired about shorter sea voyages, and that is being investigated, but I have no answer for you about that, as yeteither.
And my question for you is… how attached are you to your teaching? If relocation were a possibility is it something you could consider? Perhaps I could be stationed in Portsmouth, Plymouth or such. Think about it and let me know your thoughts. Of course, it is far too early to make any decisions, but these are issues for us todiscuss.
