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.
No comments:
Post a Comment