Chapter 17
<17> Miss Hyde, the Baby Chick (1)
Miss Hyde nodded.
"I... I don't see any other way."
"I intend to teach you quite strictly, you know."
Miss Hyde looked at the warm gray eyes within Miss Pendleton's gentle gaze and found it hard to associate the word 'strict' with her.
However, she was the only person who could give her real help. She was the only one she could cling to and depend on, and she was determined to entrust herself completely to her, no matter how she was treated.
"Yes, Miss Pendleton. I'll do whatever you tell me to. Please, teach me as you see fit."
Miss Pendleton smiled softly, and so Miss Hyde's training began.
Miss Pendleton first instructed her to learn the positions of the alphabet. She had her practice directly on the typewriter in Miss Pendleton's study, and when she returned home, she had to keep a paper with the typewriter layout copied on it, so she could type the required letters without looking.
The enthusiastic student, Miss Hyde, was able to type all the positions with her eyes closed in less than a week.
But the real training started now. A typist's ability was to transcribe documents onto paper without errors. Miss Hyde began typing history books, novels, and essays from the shelves in the study every day.
Miss Pendleton stood beside Miss Hyde for five hours straight, watching her type.
Holding a thin switch.
When Miss Hyde confused the position of a letter, she would use the switch to move her finger, and every time she tried to take her eyes off the document, she would tap the back of her hand. The intensity was only slightly stinging, but Miss Hyde couldn't help but be nervous.
At first, Miss Hyde was taken aback by Miss Pendleton and the switch in her hand. Corporal punishment seemed unlikely from the gentle and sensitive Miss Pendleton. But that was Miss Pendleton as a Lady.
Miss Pendleton, transformed into a teacher, was a completely different person.
While teaching Miss Hyde, Miss Pendleton never showed the subtle smile she usually wore. Her expression was stern, and her tone was extremely cold. When her error rate was higher than usual, she would scold her severely, though not loudly, making her spine tingle.
The first month was definitely a harsh time for Miss Hyde. After practicing typing for hours while being scolded by Miss Pendleton, her whole body would be exhausted. Her fingers, overworked for hours, ached in every joint, and her wrist was so painful that she couldn't sleep at night.
Her mother shot barbs disguised as concern behind her back every day she visited the Pendleton residence, and her brother John openly criticized her, saying that his sister's attempt to become a typist was a disgrace to the family.
But she ignored it all. She was like a racehorse with blinders on. She had no time to look to the side or behind. A knife-wielding robber was chasing her. That robber was an uncertain future. A future of living with her awful mother or suffering in poverty as a handyman.
Fortunately, after a month, everything got better. She got used to the wrist pain, and her family got tired of nagging and gave up. Miss Pendleton's strict training method became familiar and even stimulating.
As she concentrated more and more under Miss Pendleton's guidance, her typing skills steadily improved. As a week passed, then a fortnight, then a month, she reached the point where she could transcribe a novel onto paper without errors in about three days.
She developed quite remarkable typing skills in the three months Miss Pendleton had predicted, with one month remaining.
And as her skills improved, Miss Hyde's personality began to shed its former gloom and regain its cheerfulness.
She no longer belittled herself or despaired of the future. She no longer had to worry about not being able to fit into the world and threatening her livelihood. She had gained the confidence that she could provide for herself through her work.
And the more she did, the more Miss Hyde thanked Miss Pendleton for giving her this opportunity.
One afternoon in May, Miss Hyde finished an entire chapter of the novel she had planned to type for the day, as usual, and after tidying up the pile of papers beside her, she flexed her aching fingers and looked at Miss Pendleton.
When Miss Hyde's typing skills became comparable to her own, Miss Pendleton put down the switch. And after letting her practice alone, she sat at another desk nearby and did her own work.
With a relaxed mind, Miss Hyde became interested in what her teacher was doing beside her.
"Miss Pendleton, what are you writing?"
Miss Hyde asked Miss Pendleton, and Miss Pendleton, who had been staring intently at the paper, slightly lifted the book and showed it to Miss Hyde. Miss Hyde recognized it as a Latin Bible and was surprised.
"Miss Pendleton, you have such great faith. You're reading the Bible even though it's not Sunday!"
Miss Pendleton, who had regained her usual kindness after putting down the switch, shook her head and replied gently.
"Please don't praise my faith. I'm not looking at it for Bible study purposes."
"Then why?"
"I'm studying Latin, Miss Hyde."
Miss Hyde was surprised and went to Miss Pendleton's desk. There were piles of books beside Miss Pendleton. Aeneid, Odyssey, and Iliad. Miss Hyde opened the books. They were all original texts. Every page was filled with Latin and Greek that Miss Hyde couldn't understand.
Miss Hyde looked at Miss Pendleton with amazement. Miss Pendleton put down her pen, perhaps to take a break. On the paper that the pen had just worked so hard on, Psalm 23:3 in Latin was faithfully translated.
"He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."
"Miss Pendleton, you know Latin? And Greek too?"
Miss Pendleton nodded.
"Where did you learn it?"
"At boarding school."
"Boarding schools only teach French and German."
"Mostly, yes. But our school had Latin and Greek classes. It was mostly basic grammar, but it gave me a good foundation. Thanks to that, I can translate quite a bit on my own with just a dictionary."
Miss Hyde looked at Miss Pendleton with an amazed expression, then pulled a chair and sat next to her and asked.
"That's amazing. To be able to read all these thick books. If you were a man, you would have gone to Oxford, Miss Pendleton."
Miss Pendleton smiled.
"I may not be able to go to Oxford, but I should be able to help students who want to go to Oxford. That way, I can teach boys over the age of thirteen."
"Miss Pendleton, are you thinking of becoming a tutor?"
"Yes, for now."
Only then did Miss Hyde realize what Miss Pendleton had been doing beside her while she had been practicing typing. She had thought she was just reading, but in fact, she had been studying to become a tutor all along.
Miss Hyde looked closely at Miss Pendleton's face.
Miss Pendleton's white and beautiful face always looked feminine. Miss Pendleton always seemed to Miss Hyde to be a quiet and thoughtful young Lady. She always replied kindly to whatever she said and never got angry no matter what happened.
A dignified Lady to anyone who saw her. That's why Miss Hyde couldn't help but be surprised to learn that Miss Pendleton was preparing for the future so aggressively.
"But, Miss Pendleton, you were the top student at the school Rosemary and I went to. And you speak French like a native speaker."
"I did graduate at the top of my class. And I speak French reasonably well. But that's not enough."
"Surely, you'll be welcomed anywhere. Especially in homes with daughters."
"When a family's finances decline, the first thing they give up is their daughters' education. The treatment is lower and the employment is more unstable compared to tutors for boys."
Only then did Miss Hyde understand Miss Pendleton's intentions.
Miss Hyde herself knew it well. After the Hyde family began to decline, she had to leave school and return home immediately. But her younger brother was still, as a matter of course, studying at Eton.
"Certainly, if you know Latin and Greek, you'll have more opportunities to be hired in families with boys. And the salary will be higher. So, Miss Pendleton, are you planning to work as a tutor for the rest of your life?"
"Yes. If possible. But if the demand for tutors decreases, I'm thinking of working at a school. There are still teachers who taught me at the school I graduated from. The headmaster is still there too. If I write to them, I think they'll give me a teaching position. I want to work there until retirement and then retire around the age of fifty. If I work for twenty years, I should have enough money to buy a small house in the suburbs."
Miss Pendleton said that and quietly tidied up the books and writing utensils she had been studying.
"What about Miss Hyde? Do you think about the future these days?"
Miss Hyde rested her chin on her desk and spoke haltingly.
"I read the newspaper often these days. I pay special attention to typing job advertisements. Law firms, tax offices, and sometimes newspaper companies or publishing houses. I'd prefer a job at a publishing house if possible. Although the pay is less, I'll be able to see a lot of new books. But I'll take any job I can get. So I can earn money and find a boarding house and leave home."
"Does your mother know what you're thinking?"
"No. But I'm not worried. Because my mother can't stand me about as much as I can't stand her. She'll be angry and make a fuss at first, but I think she'll feel relieved when I actually leave. And after a year or so, she won't even remember that I existed. Me leaving home is for the happiness of both my mother and me. Miss Pendleton, it's not the right thing to say, but you know, there are such mother-daughter relationships in the world. Like a bad match."
