Chapter 70
<70> A New Life (1)
Part 2. Yorkshire
Thud. Thud.
Miss Pendleton looked towards the window at the irritating sound that echoed in her ears. Entering a narrow road, the dense, tangled branches hanging on both sides of the road were hitting the carriage window, thud, thud.
How many hours had she been traveling? She checked the time on her simple leather-strapped wristwatch. It had been over an hour. That was how long she had been in this carriage.
'I wonder when we'll arrive.'
She clasped her gloved hands tightly, trying to calm her heart, which had been beating faster than usual.
Three days after accepting Ian Dalton's offer of a governess position, she received a letter from him. It instructed her to take the train to Yorkshire on the following Monday. Mrs. Fairfax, knowing all the circumstances, had willingly welcomed her as a governess.
She was relieved to receive the letter and spent the remaining days preparing to depart for Yorkshire. She said goodbye to the Morton couple and her close friends, including the Fairfax siblings, packed her luggage, selected books to use as teaching materials, and acquired a few more inexpensive clothes to make up for what she lacked.
The letter he sent included the departure time of the train she was to take and a detailed map of the train station in Yorkshire where she should get off. Following his kind instructions, she took the train and traveled all day to arrive in Yorkshire.
Arriving at the station and exiting the entrance, the Dunville Park carriage was waiting for her as he had described. The coachman respectfully helped her into the carriage as if she were a noble lady and slowly started the carriage.
The coachman was taciturn. She was very tired from the train journey, so she was glad he didn't talk to her. Her mind was confused with pounding heart, excitement, and anxiety. Her first governess job, life in a new place, new people. Everything was new.
Her heart was constricted with tension. She pictured the unfamiliar situations that would unfold before her. An awkward first meeting with the new family. Mischievous children. A small and humble bedroom. A free yet constrained life as an employee.
She was far from having a fanciful nature, so she only imagined very realistic scenarios. It would certainly not be a pleasant or comfortable life. However, having made the choice, she intended to adapt to it. She could do it. She had endured in society, so where couldn't she live?
What really made her anxious was the question of whether she could properly fulfill her new role. It was the first time she had ever worked. She had occasionally taught spelling to younger children during her school days, but that couldn't be called experience. The moment of being tested in the role of 'teacher,' which she had never properly used until now, was approaching.
The carriage drove through a narrow forest path and passed two or three hills. It crossed a river and entered the forest path again. It was a very long forest. It ran so long that it seemed like it would never end.
But every road has an end. The dense trees gradually disappeared, and a clear field appeared before her eyes. She could see a mansion surrounded by woods at the top of the field. Even from a distance, she could feel its immense grandeur.
Laura re-examined her appearance. She readjusted the flat lady's hat with the brown band and checked that no stray hairs were coming out of her hair, which was tied up in a black hairnet. She checked if there was any dust on her green tartan dress and the brown shawl she wore over it, and she also scanned her navy gloves for any loose seams.
The carriage crossed the forest, passed through a field of green grass and a lake, and stopped in front of a mansion surrounded by a neatly manicured garden. She took the hand of the coachman, who was lowering the footstool, and got out of the carriage.
Laura looked up at the mansion. It was a four-story mansion made of light brown stone. It had a wide structure and looked sturdy enough to withstand any natural disaster.
A man standing in front of the mansion approached and bowed to her. He introduced himself as the butler of this mansion. She quickly greeted him. The butler said that Mrs. Fairfax was waiting and led Laura into the mansion.
Opening the front door, a wide and pleasant hall appeared. There was a unique smell of wood and stone, typical of old mansions. Laura wanted to look around the house carefully, but she didn't have time. She followed the butler down the hallway on the right. They stopped in front of a room with two doors at the end of the hallway. The butler had Laura wait at the entrance for a moment before going inside. The butler's voice was heard from inside.
"Madam, the new governess has arrived."
A low woman's voice was heard from inside. Soon, the butler came out of the room and told Laura to come in. Laura entered the room.
As soon as she entered, Laura realized it was a living room. The spacious room had a sofa that could seat twenty people and a grand piano, and a small bar with liquor and ice boxes was placed on one side of the wall.
Even though it was early summer, the fireplace was burning brightly. And a middle-aged woman was sitting near the fireplace, embroidering. Laura approached the woman. The woman had a firm jawline and impressive black hair. She immediately bent her knees and bowed her head.
"Hello, Madam."
"Welcome, Miss Pendleton."
The woman smiled comfortably.
"I am Margaret Fairfax, the mother of the two children you will be in charge of. I am usually called Mrs. Robert Fairfax."
Miss Pendleton nodded. Mrs. Fairfax stared at Laura's face.
The eyes staring at her face were as black as her hair. She was soon able to recall a gentleman who shared blood with the woman before her. They looked nothing alike, but that black color was exactly the same. Then, for some reason, she felt a sense of familiarity even though she was meeting her employer for the first time.
Mrs. Fairfax, who had been looking at Laura intently, soon said softly.
"Would you like to meet the children first, or would you like to go and rest first? It must have been a long journey, so I recommend the latter."
"I would like to meet the children first, Madam."
"You don't have to feel pressured to choose."
"I think I can rest comfortably only after meeting the children first."
Mrs. Fairfax told the waiting butler to bring the children.
While waiting for the children, Mrs. Fairfax sat Laura on the sofa next to her.
"So, it's your first time as a governess, isn't it?"
"Yes, Madam."
"Our sons are difficult to handle. They are mischievous and have poor concentration. They don't listen well either. I know Miss Pendleton is having bad luck with her job."
"You can't expect boys of that age to listen well to adults."
"I don't expect that in the first place. I just think it's a miracle if they sit properly at their desks."
The butler brought in two boys. The children were dressed in clean clothes and had brown curly hair. They were taller than their peers and seemed to have appropriately sturdy builds, but they had not yet reached puberty, so they did not feel like men at all; they were literally children.
"Now, let me introduce the children. George and Daniel."
They bowed their heads with an awkward attitude. Laura smiled softly at them.
"Nice to meet you, boys."
Miss Pendleton looked at them one by one. They were looking at their new teacher with half curiosity and half wariness.
"Those two are the students you will be in charge of. My thirteen-year-old daughter, Olivia, has teachers for dance and painting coming from outside twice a week, so you don't need to worry about her education."
Laura nodded. And she began to obtain information about the two boys from Mrs. Fairfax. Whether they had had a governess before, how much they had studied, and where they planned to send them to public school.
Mrs. Fairfax answered without hesitation. She said that the two boys had nothing but the ability to write their names in alphabet, the ability to calculate their share of the candy in a dish, and the geographical knowledge that England and the European continent were separated.
"I believe in letting my sons play as much as possible when they are young. Boys are like hunting dogs, so they should be let loose and raised properly so they don't cause trouble. Thanks to that, those guys are strong as ponies without being skinny, right?"
Laura nodded, looking at the well-developed boys.
"Indeed. They are taller and healthier than their peers. They might be good at rowing when they go to public school later, Madam."
"That's a problem to think about after they enter school. I'm worried about whether they will be able to keep up with the classes since they have never studied in their lives."
"We'll have to start with the basics of Latin, so there's a lot to do. Can we start classes right away today?"
"Well, you don't have to go that far. How about just taking some time to get used to the mansion this week? Look around the house, take a walk. Dunville Park has a really nice walking trail."
She was a very laid-back woman. The eldest, Daniel, was 11 years old, so there were less than 2 years left until he entered public school.
"Thank you for your consideration. Then I'll just rest today. But I want to start classes tomorrow. Even if we don't start studying right away, I want to help the children develop the habit of gathering at their desks at a set time."
Mrs. Fairfax suddenly burst into laughter.
"Boys, I wanted to give you freedom this week as requested, but your new teacher says no, what should we do? You'll have to be stuck in the study, memorizing Latin verbs. Your good times are over, you two."
Mrs. Fairfax teased her sons in a surprisingly sarcastic way. The boys, who had been looking gloomy as they listened to the stories about their classes, looked even more dejected at their mother's teasing words.
Laura, who had been silently watching Mrs. Fairfax tease her sons, said kindly to them.
"The actual classes will start next week. I just want to have time to get to know you. My biggest concern is how I can have fun with you."
But the boys' expressions did not brighten. She said even more kindly.
"I promise. I won't keep you sitting at your desks all day. You'll have plenty of time to play outside, though not as much as before. I also think that growing children should play outside."
The smaller of the brothers, probably George Fairfax, asked.
"Then, we don't have to just look at the blackboard and memorize Latin verbs all day?"
"Of course."
"We don't have to solve math problems every day?"
"Of course not."
"You won't hang us from the ceiling and beat us with a stick every time we get a problem wrong, will you?"
Laura was so surprised that she just blinked. Hang them from the ceiling? A child?
