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She waited for a chilly Saturday morning after Susa
“May I disturb you?” she asked. She and Susa
Claudia looked up from her desk.
“The last of the stragglers has just paid the school fees,” she said. “I do believe we are going to do well financially again this year, A
She set down her quill pen and gestured to a chair on the other side of her desk for A
“You handled Agnes Ryde’s tantrum very well at breakfast, A
“She is still a little bewildered by her new environment, that is all,” A
Claudia cocked her head to one side and leaned back in her chair. She was silent for a moment.
“What is it, A
Mr. Blake was the physician who came to the school whenever one of the boarders was indisposed.
“I am going to be leaving here, Claudia,” A
Claudia looked keenly at her but did not make any comment.
“I believe,” A
She had pla
“Married?”
She realized that Claudia had spoken the single word.
“I met him in Wales during the summer,” A
“My felicitations.” Claudia was looking at her rather sternly, her back ramrod straight. “Might I be permitted to know his name?”
A
“I ca
“Sydnam Butler,” Claudia said, “of Alvesley Park not far from Lindsey Hall? I remember him. He was an extraordinarily handsome boy.”
“I am with child by him,” A
Claudia stared at her, and A
“Rape?” she asked.
“No!” A
There was a short silence.
“But you do not wish to marry him?” Claudia asked.
“No. Not really.”
But she had missed him far more than she could have predicted. Even before she had begun to suspect the truth with the absence of her monthly courses and the morning nausea, he had dominated her waking thoughts and haunted her dreams. And she had wondered-every day since her return to Bath she had wondered-if her answer would have been different if she had not taken sudden fright-and if he had asked differently.
If you wish, A
Such dutiful, kind, dispassionate words.
Now they were going to be forced into marrying. She must accept his dutiful willingness to put everything right, and he must accept that she had kept her promise but that he might never have a wife who could offer him physical warmth.
Part of her longed for him. Part of her was terrified. And all of her hated the circumstances that would propel them into matrimony. He would hate the circumstances.
“Then you must not do so, A
“And what is the alternative, Claudia?” A
She watched the fierce light die out of Claudia’s eyes.
A number of parents had asked questions and expressed concern years ago when Miss Martin employed an unwed mother as a teacher-and when that teacher had had the effrontery to bring her bastard son with her. One girl had even been withdrawn from the school in protest.
“Besides,” A
“He will marry you?” Claudia asked.
“Yes,” A
With her heart she was quite, quite sure that he would. He would be here any day now. There was, though, an almost panicked doubt in her head. What if he did not come?
“Oh, A
What she had done had, of course, been very foolish indeed. But there was really no point in regretting it. It had happened.
“I ought to have told you sooner,” she said, “instead of waiting until I was absolutely sure-and even longer than that while I allowed time for my letter to reach him in Wales. You will need to replace me soon. Lila has been doing little more than apprentice work during the past month, but she shows great promise, Claudia. Like Susa
Claudia stared broodingly at her for several moments before pushing abruptly to her feet and rounding the desk and snatching A
“A
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