CHAPTER TWELVE B: THE LESSON THAT WENT WRONG
At Oak Haven the following afternoon, Clara had arranged six wooden animals in a line across the schoolroom table.
Her new temporary instructor, Miss Fenwick, was a young woman recommended by the housekeeper.
She had been patient during the first lesson and nervous during the second.
By the third, Clara had discovered that Miss Fenwick could be persuaded to change the subject whenever a question became difficult.
“I believe the fox should learn geography,” Clara announced.
Miss Fenwick looked helplessly toward Selena.
“The fox may learn geography after Clara finishes her own,
” Selena said.
Clara folded her arms.
“Uncle William says animals know where they live without maps.”
“Then the fox is more fortunate than most travelers,” Selena replied.
“You still need to find Bristol on this one.”
Clara studied the map with theatrical misery.
“It is very far away.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I know.”
The child pushed the book away and sent the wooden fox tumbling to the floor.
Miss Fenwick immediately apologized, although she had done nothing.
Selena picked up the toy and returned it to the table.
“You are allowed to dislike a lesson,” she told Clara.
“You are not allowed to make Miss Fenwick afraid of teaching it.”
Clara’s lower lip trembled.
“Mrs. Vale used to say that I was wicked.”
“I have not called you wicked,” Selena answered.
“I have told you what you did.”
The child looked toward the door.
William stood there, listening.
Selena wondered whether he would interfere.
Instead, he came inside and sat in the chair nearest the window.
“I was dreadful at geography,” he said.
Clara looked up.
“Were you?”
“I once told my tutor that Portugal was an island because I had never seen it.”
Miss Fenwick tried unsuccessfully to suppress a laugh.
“What did he say?” Clara asked.
“He made me draw the coastline three times.”
“That sounds cruel.”
“It was inconvenient,” William said.
“There is a difference.”
Clara considered the map again.
“Bristol is here,” she said at last, placing one finger on the page.
Miss Fenwick smiled with visible relief.
When the lesson ended, she asked Selena to remain.
“I am grateful for your help,” she said, “but I cannot always depend on you being present.”
Selena agreed immediately.
“Nor should you.”
“His Grace makes me nervous,” Miss Fenwick admitted.
William, who had returned for his gloves, heard the final sentence.
Miss Fenwick turned scarlet.
“I did not mean that you have been unkind.”
“You meant that my presence makes you hesitate,” William replied.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
He looked at Clara’s completed map.
“Then I shall ask the housekeeper to arrange a private place for your lessons.”
Miss Fenwick lifted her chin.
“A private place where you may visit without warning would be less helpful than one where you tell me when you intend to observe.”
Selena held her breath.
William looked at the young teacher for a long moment.
“That is reasonable,” he said.
“I shall give you notice.”
After Miss Fenwick departed,
Selena followed William into the corridor.
“You handled that well,” she told him.
“I felt as though I were being dismissed from my own schoolroom.”
“You were.”
“And you approve?”
“I approve of a teacher who wishes to teach.”
William laughed quietly.
“I begin to understand why Clara finds you both comforting and inconvenient.”
