North Mansion Part 13

            The butler brought a note for Eleanor late the next morning, requesting she join him for lunch in his study. The girl agreed quickly before the tutor could say anything and as Mr. Flanders left the school room, he couldn’t help but notice the words across the gigantic blackboard. Je ne vais pas manquer de respect. Je ne vaise pan manquer de respect…..

            Eleanor carefully held the spoon and ate slowly, hoping her guardian wouldn’t notice. At first, he didn’t seem to notice

            “So, did you pick the rooms for our guest to sleep in?”

            “Yes, Mr. Flanders and I selected several for the staff to clean out.”

            “Good. What’s wrong with your wrist?”

So he had noticed. He had been observing her and the lack of motion in her dominant hand told him she was in pain.

            “Just sore.”

His forehead wrinkled

            “From?”

            “Homework…”

            “Are you improving?”

            “No.”

James seemed surprised by her answer and prodded her gently to continue

            “All of this week I have spent three hours a day writing Je ne vais pas manquer de respect on the blackboard. And then carry on with my other schooling.”

            “Come, child, were you disrespectful?”

She had been fighting herself since the weekend on whether on not she was in the right.

            “I don’t know.” Her forehead showed wrinkles

            “Just start at the beginning. Shall I summon Mr. Clark to be in on the conversation?”

            “Not just now.” Eleanor replied, starting where he asked, at the beginning and explaining what had happened. “I’ve been thinking about it an awful lot, trying to figure out if I was in the wrong. I know that I made a decision and I felt he was very unreasonable…”

            “Was anyone else with you?”

            “Mr. Flanders. He encouraged me to leave and cook something.”

            “But it felt wrong.”

            “Yes. I did it anyways and knew I would suffer the consequences…”

            “Which, you obviously are. I plan on letting Mr. Clark go. Do you have any objections?”

            “No. But who will teach me?”

James hesitated

            “I thought, perhaps…” he seemed suddenly nervous “I would.”

To his surprise, she seemed excited at this proposition of sorts.

            “Really?”

            “Yes. You will find I will expect more from you as well as teaching you a good variety of life skills and fun classes in addition to the basics, of course.”

James looked like he had more to say on the subject

            “Look, take the afternoon off, I saw a letter get delivered and I guess it is probably from Peter.”

Eleanor rose, setting her dishes on the tray

             “I’ll see you tonight.” She said, rushing out the door, leaving James to dismiss the tutor. 

North Mansion Part 12

Come Sunday night, quite late, James arrived, amid a thunderstorm and pounding rain. He seemed exhausted, but the remembrance that his father had met with the girl every night without fail came to him as he was able to close his bedroom door. He knew where she would be and found her curled up in same armchair she always sat in. She looked up quickly and in a delighted tone, said

            “Oh, you’re home! How did it go? Are you hungry?”

            “It went well. I’m much too tired to eat anything.” He said “I just wanted to greet you and make sure you’re okay.”

            “I’m fine.” The girl replied “Thank you.”

            “For what?” he seemed more awake and curious.

            “You coming and talking when you’re obviously smashed.”

            “Hey, I’m not drunk.” He said, turning to leave “Get some sleep, child, it’s a school night. I’m not going to run in the morning.”

            “Yes, sir. You get some sleep.” She replied back, closing the book and turning out the lights. Truth was, she was dreading the next day and speaking with her tutor after the rather awkward weekend.

            James kept busy with his tenants for the first two days he was home, so he barely had a chance to be home, besides to sleep. He still maintained a conversation with Eleanor, usually in the library or his study to see how she was doing. She seemed withdrawn and both nights, she was the one who ended the conversation and went to bed.

North Mansion Part 11

            With James gone over the weekend, Eleanor made a rather bold move with her tutor. She expressed keen desire to spend Saturday not in nature or in study as he preferred, but rather in the kitchen.

            “I’d like to cook something today. Can you drive me to the store for ingredients?”

            “I would rather we focus our energy on completing the political outlooks for your next assignment. Or, if you insist upon not doing academic work, that we hike or perhaps attend the butterfly and insect room in town.”

Eleanor poured herself a cup of tea and sat down with the fresh berry scone and buttered it while she spoke

            “And, since it is Saturday, I have a desire to do something fun and different from the ordinary school day, which, if I may remind you, the majority of kids my age, take this time off.”

            “Your attitude is not appreciated, Miss Eleanor.”

The idea of agreeing to a hike and then racing through it came to mind. She could then ask the chauffer to drive her to the store to get the ingredients she knew the cook didn’t have. But she felt the man was being unreasonable.

            “And your disrespect is not appreciated. You may take the day off and study or go to the insect place if you like.”

He rose to his feet, angrily

            “Miss Eleanor, you will report to the school room in ten minutes unless you would like to spend the rest of the week writing ‘I will not be disrespectful’ in French until I order you to stop.”

The tutor then left the room, leaving Eleanor with her half eaten scone feeling confused and frustrated.

            “Mr. Flanders.” Eleanor looked up towards the butler who had heard every word of the conversation “Honest opinion, am I being either disrespectful or out of line?”

            “If one of you were considered disrespectful, it would not be you, miss. Shall I call the chauffer and have him bring a car around?”

It was his way of saying she should proceed with her weekend plans. The girl shook her head

            “Not at the moment, Mr. Flanders, I need to think.”

The butler nodded and once behind her, glanced at his watch, she had eight minutes to make up her mind before being punished. He knew that the tutor had flared up as a result of the pressure Lord North put on him to help the girl excel.

            “I am so tired of this.” She said “I’m going to be miserable during a punishment or miserable during the stupid politics stuff he wants me to do today...” she made her mind up there. “Please send for the car.”

            “Good choice, miss, right away.”

 The growing guilt inside her was pushed away. There were a million worse things she could have wanted to do. She could have wanted to watch movies, chill with friends or even sneak out of the house to do whatever she pleased. But cooking? It seemed ridiculous, until she thought of her brother’s description of the man. Everything became clear. Lord North had put a time pressure on seeing improvement and that stressed the tutor out. Even though she disobeyed him, she enjoyed herself. The cook stood back and watched her work and helped her whenever she needed it. She attempted soufflés and successfully made risotto, homemade pasta, which was then turned into ravioli, cherry pie and chocolate cake. The girl cooked enough for the entire staff and it was at nearly six that evening when everyone sat down in the formal dining room, excluding the tutor who refused to join them. The butler even left his position behind her chair to eat with them. 

North Mansion Part 10

            “What is it about Mr. Clark you dislike so much?” Eleanor asked on what had become a routine run every morning. James raised his eyebrows until creases appeared on his forehead, but pushed on running.

            “I think it is a combination of what you have told of him and his annoying habit of constantly adding meaningless statistics or facts to every subject we talk about to try and look smarter….” He glanced over “Look, I really shouldn’t speak this way, it is distasteful.”

He sprinted forward, leaving the girl behind for a moment. When he glanced back, she was catching up quickly, a smile spreading over her face. It was still there when they reached the mansion again and James finally asked

            “What is it? You’ve been smiling for quite some time now. And don’t tell me you actually enjoy sprinting…” he was out of breath

The girl dropped over, panting. It was a full minute before she could respond

            “I’m glad you’re my brother. I can’t get over how lucky I am.”

James walked towards the gardens

            “What makes you say that? The fact that I just dissed your teacher in front of you?”

            “That. And taking time to get to know me, the way you treat the staff. I guess I wasn’t expecting you to be so agreeable.”

            “I have a disagreeable side, Eleanor, I hope you never see it, but I’m afraid you eventually will.” He replied, sinking to one of the stone benches and motioning for her to join him “Listen, Eleanor, I have to leave again. I was asked to teach a weekend leadership course at one of the academies.”

            “That’s fine.” The girl replied, half lying. It took a moment of thought for her to amend her statement “I mean… I’m happy you get the opportunity to teach and I hope it goes well.”

            “So you’re going to miss me?”

She nodded and he decided to push her a little mentally

            “Why?”

Before responding, she pulled a leaf off of the tree overhanging the small alcove bench and proceeded to tear it apart

            “Because when you leave, I don’t have any distraction and it makes me think of Dad more.” She reached for another leaf “And I don’t know how to deal with the pain I feel. I can’t escape it. Not even in sleep.”

James leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees

            “Look, Eleanor, I am probably the worst person to give you advice on grieving, but using excuses and keeping busy to forget the pain won’t help.”

Her tear filled eyes looked away

            “Then what?”

Here, James had to think and his own bitter losses made his throat ache.

            “Think of and remember the happy times. Cherish them. It is all I can tell you.”

She was sobbing and he embraced her, letting her cry on his shoulder

            “You are a strong girl, Eleanor, you will figure this out.” He whispered