Chapter 73
<73> A New Life (4)
However, as she returned to the manor for lunch, she gradually remembered her duty. After finishing her meal, she asked the butler to call the children to the study. Soon, Daniel and George, who had been rolling around on the lawn with the new shepherd puppies their father had given them, were called inside. The three of them gathered in the study.
George and Daniel, visibly nervous, stared at their teacher sitting across from them. A kind-looking teacher with clear gray eyes and neatly pinned-up auburn hair. There was nothing intimidating about her appearance, but they were extremely intimidated. It was because of their uncle, who had threatened to punish them severely if they misbehaved towards the new governess.
However, Laura, unaware of the boys' feelings, simply thought they were nervous about meeting their first governess. Laura decided to approach the children carefully to ease their tension.
Laura hadn't brought any books, notebooks, or writing utensils with her in the first place. She had even deliberately turned the provided blackboard around. She knew that opening a book right away would cause them to panic. She didn't ask them anything about their studies at all. She only asked how they usually spent their time, what they liked, and what they disliked.
The boys hesitated to answer. But as time passed, and the teacher, whom they had expected to torture them with Latin grammar, didn't mention anything about studying, their tension seemed to gradually ease.
Above all, the teacher in front of them was looking at them with a very kind smile. Which boy would keep his heart tightly locked when a beautiful woman was smiling and paying attention to him? They began to answer readily as they were asked.
She listened attentively to the children's stories. The boys liked fishing, swimming, gathering berries in the forest, making slingshots, and setting rabbit traps, and they spent most of their time doing those things. When they were at home, all they did was fill their hungry bellies, tease the horses in the stable, and play with their father's hunting dogs.
She asked them if they had any favorite books, and they eagerly mentioned the titles of several detective novels and adventure novels. She asked them to tell her about the stories. When they started to argue about who would go first, she had them decide the order with a small game.
The children were somewhat scattered, but they knew how to tell a story with a perfect beginning, middle, and end. It was proof that they weren't unintelligent. They sulked at losing but accepted defeat, so their personalities weren't completely unruly either. Of course, they were somewhat hot-tempered, but it seemed like that was a problem caused by the lack of someone patient to guide them.
She played a few simple games with the boys. Number calculation games, word matching, and naming the past Kings of England. The children, unaware of the teacher's intentions, were simply happy to be playing and became engrossed in the games.
Through the games, Miss Pendleton was able to understand her students in detail. The children were not lacking in intelligence. There were no problems with their brainpower, such as memory or reasoning, so it seemed possible to get them to put something in their heads if they were taught. But the problem was how to get it in there.
They couldn't concentrate properly on anything except when they were playing games. They couldn't stand sitting still, so they kept twisting their bodies and burying their faces in the desk. It was only natural since they had never been trained to sit still and do something. How could she put something in the heads of children who couldn't even bear to sit still like this?
Laura, thinking that she had done enough for today by figuring out the children's basic condition, sent them back to where they had been playing. The children rushed out of the study like escaped convicts.
Laura sat on the study chair, resting her chin on her hand. And she began to think about how to teach these children. Laura was facing a common difficulty for teachers. She had been assigned children with personalities that were the complete opposite of her own. Children whose personalities and upbringing were completely different.
When faced with students who are so different from themselves, teachers are faced with two choices. Should they adapt the children to their teaching style? Or should they adapt themselves to the children's temperament? After careful consideration, Laura decided to choose the latter. Not because she didn't have the confidence to adapt the children to herself, but because she thought it would be better for the children.
The school she had attended forbade any exercise other than dance classes under the pretext of raising cultured Ladies. At best, there was a picnic to the countryside once or twice a month during the warmer seasons. Only then could the students move their bodies as much as they wanted. She remembered that time as a happy moment. Riding boats with friends, climbing over rocks, playing tennis, and decorating clothes with flowers.
Looking back, it was not only enjoyable but also had a positive impact on her physical health. Only after graduating did she realize that there were many girls' schools where even that much physical activity was not allowed. Because of that, most Ladies from prestigious schools were extremely frail. It was also the reason why Ladies often fainted while dancing at Balls. That was sometimes seen as a woman's charm in society, though.
But she secretly believed that the lack of exercise in girls' schools was also a significant factor in why so many women died in childbirth. Because of that, Laura often thought that if she became a school teacher and could influence the school's operations, she would have the students do more physical activities. Physical activity in childhood was clearly linked to health in adulthood.
In that respect, Daniel and George were lucky. Being able to run around and play in the dirt and forest without anyone stopping them was a great blessing. She wanted to let them play healthily until they went to school. The public school would take care of discipline anyway, so she wanted them to enjoy their childhood until then.
The next day, Laura took the two boys outside. She asked them to show her their favorite forest and river. They were very excited to have someone interested in what they liked, and they took the teacher's hand and went to the forest.
The forest, made up of huge trees, was damp and dark but fragrant. There, they showed her the 100-year-old Elm tree they always climbed, and they showed her all the swamps teeming with insects and the shrub forests where rabbits were easily caught and traps were set. She spent the afternoon walking through the forest with them, learning the geography and learning how the boys played there.
At first, she only received a tour of the forest and watched the boys play. But as time passed, and the boys and Laura became more familiar with each other, Laura stopped just watching. Instead, she started playing with them.
They chased squirrels together, picked acorns, made traps, fished, played territory games, and collected insects.
At first, it was impossible to run as much as the children. She was too weak to play with the energetic boys. It was only natural since she had spent her time after graduating from girls' school without exercising, except for dancing at Balls. After running, rolling, and climbing trees on the dirt all day, her arms and legs felt like lead when she returned to the manor.
But after about a week, Laura's weak body gradually began to adapt to the physical activity. As her body adapted, her mind also changed. Before she knew it, she was sweating and chasing the children in tag and crawling into the dirt to collect something, and she began to feel a fresh joy in it. After playing with the children without thinking for a long time, her head cleared and her pulse throbbed pleasantly.
She gradually liked the activity of her students, which had been a concern at first. They were playful, hot-tempered, and rough, but like children who grew up in the dirt, their bodies and minds were strong. They opened their hearts to their new governess, who had become their playmate, surprisingly quickly. It was only natural for the boys, as Laura was a beautiful and kind teacher who took a deep interest in what they did.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Fairfax was speechless with surprise as she watched Laura's teaching method. She had no idea that Laura would go this far for the children. She looked like a young Lady who had been raised preciously, so she thought she would teach in a formal way. She thought all she would do was play word matching in the study, give tests, and occasionally coax the children with cookies or candy.
But, contrary to expectations, Laura ran to the forest with the boys every day and returned in the evening covered in dirt. Her clothes were torn here and there, and she had leaves stuck to her.
Mrs. Fairfax knew well enough why Laura was doing this. She knew how distracted her sons were and how they couldn't stand sitting in one place. Laura had noticed that in just one day and had come up with the most appropriate way to teach the children something. It was to gain their affection as an adult who understood them. Mrs. Fairfax could tell what kind of person Laura was just from that.
'That Miss Pendleton is a smart woman.'
Olivia was also as surprised as her mother at Laura's teaching attitude, but she didn't understand Laura's intentions as much as her mother did.
The way a Lady should behave, in her opinion, was to never lose her dignity at any time. In Olivia's eyes, Laura seemed to have completely lost her Lady-like self. Losing a Lady's dignity just for money was absurd.
But that was just a thought that came from jealousy of Laura, who had taken away her perfect uncle. In fact, she knew it too. It was ridiculous to criticize Laura for not behaving like a Lady when she was no longer a Lady. But Olivia had no other choice. That was because there was nothing else to criticize Laura for.
On the first day Laura came, Olivia ran into her on the stairs and realized that she was an unexpectedly beautiful woman, and Olivia became even more frustrated and tried to find Laura's flaws with her eyes wide open.
But in the past few days, all Olivia had found was that Laura was the owner of a proper gait, kind speech, and refined manners. She was not just Lady-like, but as elegant as royalty.
Olivia, who had been trying to find Laura's flaws, only became more anxious about her own situation as the observation continued. Were all the aristocratic young Ladies in London armed with such outstanding refinement? Would she be able to have a presence when she went to London in three years to make her debut?
Olivia became engrossed in piano and drawing studies and began to read more books due to anxiety. But the anxiety did not subside.
