one Lizzy burned first:
Today in the vespers, I see my brothers wife, weeping tears and milk for the stillborn babe they put in the ground.
Kestrels Baltimore, Maryland Summer 1889
Eleven
S HOULD YOU WISH to continue classes throughout the summer," Miss Burnside said, sweeping down the rows between our desks. "Please ask that your parents engage me before the last of the month to guarantee placement."
In spite of the kind offer, I felt quite certain that Zora and I would be spending our days in teas and callings instead of lessons. Summer broke over the city in the most pleasing way.
The harbor, for the moment, settled the heat to a suggestion. It gave us a season warm enough to go about without a wrapper, wearing light
chinoise
gowns instead of heavy brocade. It gave us a barbecue season to parade in the park and make eyes at any who pleased us.
Miss Burnside moved through the room as a barge through the harbor. She touched students to promote them to their next grade. Out of spite, she started at the last chair and worked her way forward.
"Give way," Zora mouthed to me.
Sitting as I did between her and Thomas, I had to tip back so they could exchange looks. It had become so regular that I was once tempted to fail an exam, just to let Thomas win my seat. My pride overwhelmed temptation, however, so I spent a good deal of time trailing my ribbons on the desk behind me so they could moon.
"Thank You, Miss Harrison; I shall see you again to begin sixth-form lessons," Miss Burnside sang behind me.
"Has your mother talked to Mrs. Castillo?" Thomas asked.
Zora leaned into the aisle to whisper back, "She sent a letter with Papa, and he'll return tomorrow with the answer, I expect. But she's never said no before now—like as not, she'll agree this time, too."
With a smile, I pointed out between them, "She only had to take three of you before. You've got an extra this year."
"Three, four, what's the difference?" Zora asked, and we all corrected our posture when Miss Burnside cracked her stick on a desk behind us.
"I'm sorry to say you'll need to repeat your fourth term," Miss Burnside told little Joey Dobbs.
When Miss Burnside drifted to the other side of the room, I craned back again.
Arms curled on the desk, Zora told Thomas, "In any case, it shouldn't matter. If we must, Sarah and Mattie could stay with Sarah's aunt. We'll prevail upon Mrs. Castillo's good nature to take the two of us."
"Where will you stay?" I asked, then colored for my shamelessness. Of the myriad of things not meant for young ladies to contemplate, a bachelor's sleeping arrangements was chief among them.
And, alas, it was not so much that I cared to know Thomas' particulars, but that I hoped he would divulge Nathaniel's in the telling.
"I thought to ride back that night," Thomas said, though that sounded entirely unlikely to me.
To Zora as well, for she hummed a note that called him a liar. Then, as if her trickery would go unnoticed, she asked, "Did Dr. Rea buy another horse of late?"
"He didn't," Thomas said, rising in his seat, bemused. "I planned to borrow one."
"And ride it hard on, thirty miles in the morning, then thirty more after the ball?" Clicking her tongue against her teeth, Zora sighed. "Poor borrowed beast."
Reaching across to my desk, Thomas tapped his finger on the edge of it. "Mind yourself, and let me save your country friend from herself."
"Oh, noble Mr. Rea," Zora teased, then jerked upright when Miss Burnside rapped her across the shoulders.
The willow stick was not thick enough to wreak damage, but it hurt. Not that any would know it from Zora's reaction. She bit her lips, swallowing laughter as desperately as ginger water on a hot day.
"I'm happy," Miss Burnside said, her teeth gritted in such a way that we could hardly believe her happy at all, "to graduate you, Miss Stewart. I wish you all the best at the new girls' High School next year."
Zora took to her feet and dipped low in an exquisite court
Today in the vespers, I see my brothers wife, weeping tears and milk for the stillborn babe they put in the ground.
Kestrels Baltimore, Maryland Summer 1889
Eleven
S HOULD YOU WISH to continue classes throughout the summer," Miss Burnside said, sweeping down the rows between our desks. "Please ask that your parents engage me before the last of the month to guarantee placement."
In spite of the kind offer, I felt quite certain that Zora and I would be spending our days in teas and callings instead of lessons. Summer broke over the city in the most pleasing way.
The harbor, for the moment, settled the heat to a suggestion. It gave us a season warm enough to go about without a wrapper, wearing light
chinoise
gowns instead of heavy brocade. It gave us a barbecue season to parade in the park and make eyes at any who pleased us.
Miss Burnside moved through the room as a barge through the harbor. She touched students to promote them to their next grade. Out of spite, she started at the last chair and worked her way forward.
"Give way," Zora mouthed to me.
Sitting as I did between her and Thomas, I had to tip back so they could exchange looks. It had become so regular that I was once tempted to fail an exam, just to let Thomas win my seat. My pride overwhelmed temptation, however, so I spent a good deal of time trailing my ribbons on the desk behind me so they could moon.
"Thank You, Miss Harrison; I shall see you again to begin sixth-form lessons," Miss Burnside sang behind me.
"Has your mother talked to Mrs. Castillo?" Thomas asked.
Zora leaned into the aisle to whisper back, "She sent a letter with Papa, and he'll return tomorrow with the answer, I expect. But she's never said no before now—like as not, she'll agree this time, too."
With a smile, I pointed out between them, "She only had to take three of you before. You've got an extra this year."
"Three, four, what's the difference?" Zora asked, and we all corrected our posture when Miss Burnside cracked her stick on a desk behind us.
"I'm sorry to say you'll need to repeat your fourth term," Miss Burnside told little Joey Dobbs.
When Miss Burnside drifted to the other side of the room, I craned back again.
Arms curled on the desk, Zora told Thomas, "In any case, it shouldn't matter. If we must, Sarah and Mattie could stay with Sarah's aunt. We'll prevail upon Mrs. Castillo's good nature to take the two of us."
"Where will you stay?" I asked, then colored for my shamelessness. Of the myriad of things not meant for young ladies to contemplate, a bachelor's sleeping arrangements was chief among them.
And, alas, it was not so much that I cared to know Thomas' particulars, but that I hoped he would divulge Nathaniel's in the telling.
"I thought to ride back that night," Thomas said, though that sounded entirely unlikely to me.
To Zora as well, for she hummed a note that called him a liar. Then, as if her trickery would go unnoticed, she asked, "Did Dr. Rea buy another horse of late?"
"He didn't," Thomas said, rising in his seat, bemused. "I planned to borrow one."
"And ride it hard on, thirty miles in the morning, then thirty more after the ball?" Clicking her tongue against her teeth, Zora sighed. "Poor borrowed beast."
Reaching across to my desk, Thomas tapped his finger on the edge of it. "Mind yourself, and let me save your country friend from herself."
"Oh, noble Mr. Rea," Zora teased, then jerked upright when Miss Burnside rapped her across the shoulders.
The willow stick was not thick enough to wreak damage, but it hurt. Not that any would know it from Zora's reaction. She bit her lips, swallowing laughter as desperately as ginger water on a hot day.
"I'm happy," Miss Burnside said, her teeth gritted in such a way that we could hardly believe her happy at all, "to graduate you, Miss Stewart. I wish you all the best at the new girls' High School next year."
Zora took to her feet and dipped low in an exquisite court
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