Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin Page A

Coast, to tell the truth, before he retired to Cornwall to marry and raise children. He taught me a few tricks."
    She posed like a true fighter, feet planted firmly apart, one arm in the air, the other holding out the sword and waving it boldly. I stood transfixed, filled with admiration as she danced a little circle around us, swishing her sword at imaginary foes. At zombies? I felt more secure knowing of Miss Temple's secret talent.
    "Oh, Miss Temple!" I said. "I wish you could teach me your few tricks."
    "Perhaps I shall." She smiled, gazing at the weapon as if lost in a memory. After a moment, she placed it back on the hooks over the mantel and embraced us both. "But for now, it's time for bed. God bless you, my children!"
    Helen she held a little longer than me. Miss Temple let her go more reluctantly. For her, she a second time breathed a sad sigh; for her, she wiped a tear from her cheek.
    On reaching the bedroom, we heard the voice of Miss Scatcherd. She was examining drawers. She had just pulled out Helen Burns's, and when we entered, Helen was greeted with a sharp reprimand.
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    Next morning, Miss Scatcherd wrote in conspicuous characters on a piece of pasteboard the word SLATTERN and bound it crownlike around Helen's forehead. She wore it until evening, patient, unresentful, and regarding it as a deserved punishment. The moment Miss Scatcherd withdrew after school, I ran to Helen, tore it off, and thrust it into the fire. The fury of which she was incapable had been burning in my soul all day, and tears, hot and large, had continually been scalding my cheek. The spectacle of Helen's sad resignation gave me an intolerable pain at the heart.
    CHAPTER 9
    ABOUT A WEEK LATER, Miss Temple received a reply from Mr. Lloyd regarding her inquiries. He apparently corroborated my account. Miss Temple had enough faith in me, and Mr. Lloyd's verification of events, that she assembled the whole school, announced that inquiry had been made into the charges against Jane Slayre, and that she was "most happy to be able to pronounce her completely cleared from every imputation." The teachers then shook hands with me and kissed me, and a murmur of pleasure ran through the ranks of my companions.
    I felt joy in the sisterhood and affection of my fellow Lowood inmates. For the time, I was able to put the special students and Mr. Bokorhurst to the back of my mind and throw myself wholeheartedly into my studies. I toiled hard, and my success was proportionate to my efforts. My memory, not naturally tenacious, improved with practise. Exercise sharpened my wits. In a few weeks I was promoted to a higher class. In less than two months, I was allowed to commence French and drawing. Miss Temple had also taken me
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    aside to show me how to hold a sword with proper posture, and how to lunge and parry. I returned for a second lesson late in the evening after classes.
    "Mr. Lloyd wrote that he suspects you were being raised amongst vampyres," Miss Temple revealed as she showed me how to keep the blade steady while sweeping it through the air. "Speak the truth. I will not fault you."
    I lowered the weapon. "Indeed. I wasn't sure anyone would believe me. It sounds so fantastical to say aloud."
    "Oh, I believe you. I've known worse things than vampyres, dear child."
    I was about to ask her about zombies, but she ended the conversation before I could bring it up.
    That night on going to bed, I forgot to prepare the imaginary supper of hot roast potatoes and spinach that had got me through many a night of burnt porridge and meager portions of bread. I feasted instead on the spectacle of ideal drawings that I planned in my head, in the dark, all the work of my own hands: freely penciled rocks and ruins overrun with elves, a blue-eyed angel floating over a peaceful ocean, a Grecian goddess draped in voluminous folds. The angel would of course resemble Helen Burns, the goddess Miss Temple. I imagined, too, my lunging and parrying, thrusting, and hacking