Chapter 72
<72> A New Life (3)
After the meal, the family all moved to the living room. It was family time. Mr. Fairfax set up the chessboard, Mrs. Fairfax sat by the fireplace embroidering, and Olivia sat at the piano and began to play.
Mr. Fairfax asked Laura if she knew how to play chess.
"Yes, Mr. Fairfax."
"Then, teacher, let's have a game."
Mr. Fairfax rubbed his hands together excitedly and offered her the chair across the chess table. Laura suddenly found herself facing her employer, whom she had met for the first time today, over a game of chess. Daniel and George sat on either side of the chessboard to watch their father and their new teacher play.
Even as Laura moved her chess pieces, she felt very awkward being so readily included in such a setting. Usually, even if close to the family, an employee would withdraw at times like these.
But none of the Fairfax family seemed to find her presence awkward, not even Olivia, who clearly disliked her. Everyone included her in their time as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if she were one of the family.
Mr. Fairfax urged Laura to concentrate on the chess game. Laura quickly pulled herself together and focused on the black and white chessboard in front of her.
Mr. Fairfax was very curious about Laura's chess skills, now that she was in his house. Playing a game of hunting with a man and a game of chess with a lady was Mr. Fairfax's way of assessing people. This assessment was simply to distinguish between 'people he would like very much' and 'people he would like less.'
Laura subtly realized that this was a kind of interview and sharpened her mind. Fortunately, she had played chess every evening with her grandmother, so it was a very familiar game to her. She slowly advanced her pieces.
Mr. Fairfax was a man who approached anything with a stake in it with great seriousness. However, he lacked prudence and was somewhat lacking in intelligence. This fatal flaw did not matter much in activities such as hunting, but it was a considerable disadvantage in games that required strategy and tactics, such as chess.
Unfortunately for Mr. Fairfax, Laura had a quick mind and a personality that rarely got excited. She quickly grasped Mr. Fairfax's hasty nature and his nearsightedness, which prevented him from seeing more than two moves ahead, and leisurely moved her pieces.
"Checkmate."
Before long, Laura had conquered Mr. Fairfax's king. Mr. Fairfax, who had been defeated in an instant, looked at Laura with a dazed expression. Then he rearranged the chessboard and asked for another game.
Over the course of five games, Mr. Fairfax lost to his new governess in all but the last two. Even those last two games were only won because Laura subtly let Mr. Fairfax win for the sake of his pride.
Two wins out of five games. It was a humiliating score, but Mr. Fairfax was rather pleased. Until now, his only chess opponents had been his young sons, and beating them was easier than twisting a child's wrist. A skilled chess opponent like Laura was a necessity for his evenings. He immediately classified her as someone he would 'like very much.'
Laura also found the chess game quite enjoyable, as it had been a long time since she had played. However, using her brain so much in a state of accumulated fatigue gave her a headache. Laura gave her seat to Daniel and watched the father and son play chess.
Daniel wracked his brains and moved his pieces in an attempt to beat his father, but he had inherited his father's hasty nature and was repeatedly thwarted. Mr. Fairfax obtained a lackluster victory and flicked the loser's forehead.
Olivia, tired of just playing the piano, came over to watch the chess game. With Olivia joining, the area around the chessboard became quite crowded. Olivia didn't want to touch the spectators, so she took a step back and craned her neck to watch the game.
As Laura still had a headache, she gave her seat to Olivia, who was watching uncomfortably. Then she sat on the piano stool that Olivia had just been sitting on and opened the lid again, tapping the keys a few times.
The Fairfax family's piano was luxurious and well-tuned. Laura naturally moved her fingers to create her favorite melody: Chopin's Waltz No. 18. It was a piece she had practiced hundreds of times and performed in front of people dozens of times, a piece she could play with her eyes closed. She really closed her eyes and played the piano in the dark, like a blind performer.
With her vision blocked, only her hearing and the sense of touch in her fingers were her only stimuli. Gradually, her fatigue and headache subsided. Piano playing, which she had had to learn rigorously with a teacher hitting her with a pointer in her school days, and which she had had to practice tirelessly in her twenties to satisfy sophisticated guests, was now a form of relaxation for her. She enjoyed the melody she created as if she were the only one in this space.
After finishing a song, Laura opened her eyes with a much lighter feeling. But as soon as she stopped playing the piano, she felt a gaze on her cheek. Laura looked to the side where she felt the gaze. Olivia was staring at Laura with a dazed expression. The two made eye contact in the air. Olivia flinched. Laura gave Olivia a slight smile. Then Olivia quickly turned her gaze back to the chessboard.
Laura looked at the chessboard. Now Mr. Fairfax and George were sitting face to face. Mr. Fairfax was angry that young George was moving the pieces haphazardly, so he pinched and shook his cheek.
"Why do you keep advancing the king? Are you brainless?"
"Huh? Why? If he's the leader, shouldn't he be at the forefront when a fight breaks out?"
Mr. Fairfax clicked his tongue at his son's foolish words.
"With that kind of brain, you'll make a fine navy officer."
After Mr. Fairfax flicked George and chased him away, he shouted at Laura, who was sitting at the piano.
"Teacher, don't just play the piano boringly, let's have another game."
Laura moved back to the chessboard.
While Laura was playing chess, Olivia approached the piano and began to play the waltz that Laura had just played. But she kept hitting the wrong keys, causing the flow to falter. Laura subtly shifted her gaze towards the piano.
Olivia was closing her eyes and playing the piano, just as she had done a moment ago. She would hit the wrong place, then open her eyes slightly to place her hand in the correct spot, then close her eyes again and play, only to hit the wrong key again, and then open her eyes again to find her place. After struggling with the piano for a while, Olivia became frustrated and gave up playing, slamming the piano lid shut.
Laura smiled at Olivia's cute behavior and quickly turned her gaze back to the chessboard to avoid being caught smiling and embarrassing Olivia.
In this game, Mr. Fairfax narrowly succeeded in checkmating. This was largely because Laura's mind was distracted by Olivia. Mr. Fairfax was excited and asked Laura to play another game of chess. But Mrs. Fairfax said that the teacher must be tired and should be allowed to go to bed, so the next chess game was canceled. Laura felt grateful for Mrs. Fairfax's intervention and went up to her room first.
She entered the room. She entered the dark room, lit a candle, and changed her clothes. Then she sat on the sofa and reflected on the day for a moment. Everything was the opposite of what she had expected. Everything was dramatically good.
It had only been a day since she arrived at this place, but after experiencing the family members of the mansion today, the worst thing that could happen in the future, no matter how pessimistically she thought about it, was that the children would not listen during study time.
That night, she knelt down and offered a heartfelt prayer of thanks. For meeting such good people. For obtaining a good environment. For the fact that many of the things she had worried about turned out to be unfounded. She was sincerely grateful for all this good fortune.
But after finishing her prayer and lying in bed, the person who came to her mind most clearly was Ian Dalton. Even if everything was God's providence, the person God had sent for her was Mr. Dalton. If it hadn't been for him, she wouldn't have been able to be here.
As she lay in bed, she was newly reminded that she was staying in Yorkshire, the town where Mr. Dalton lived, at the home of Mr. Dalton's closest relatives. That meant that Mr. Dalton's Estate was also nearby. Whitefield Hall, surrounded by a forest of white birch trees, was close enough to reach in just an hour. Laura's heart raced at the thought.
The place she had only seen in the painting he had given her was so close. The beautiful Whitefield that he had painted with such care. And, of course, Mr. Dalton would be there now.
As she thought that far, Laura's heart beat even faster. She quickly shook her head and closed her eyes. And she told herself that this throbbing was due to the power of the night, which heightened emotions. The darkness, the moonlight, the warm bedding, the languor were shaking her heart.
To escape from the power of the night, she tried to erase the thoughts from her mind and fall asleep. Fortunately, she was tired and fell asleep easily.
She couldn't have imagined that in the study window of Whitefield Hall, an hour away from Dunville Park, there was a gentleman smoking a cigar, imagining her, who would be asleep in the guest room by now.
* * *
As she had imagined, life at Dunville Park was smooth.
The day after arriving at Dunville Park, Laura asked for Mrs. Fairfax's permission and looked around the Dunville Park mansion with the butler.
It was a sturdy and dignified mansion. According to the butler's explanation, it was at least four hundred years old. The butler proudly said that he took great care in its management, so there was nothing to criticize. As Laura looked around, she realized that the butler's words were not an exaggeration. The window frames, railings, and every corner were clean without any damaged or contaminated parts.
The house contained the history of a family. Laura saw the paintings of the Fairfax family's ancestors hanging throughout the mansion, and she looked at the weapons used by the ancestors in wars and the valuables brought back from the Grand Tour. The Fairfax family's ancestors had a hobby of hunting for generations, so taxidermied animals could easily be seen throughout the house.
But the most impressive thing about Dunville Park was the scenery outside. The park, with its wide expanse of green meadows, was surrounded by forests and lakes, making it the best location in terms of scenery. Laura asked the butler for permission and spent the morning taking a walk around the area, enjoying the refreshing English summer.
