“He must have been very drunk.”
“Oh, he was. There was a fuss about it. They didn’t know who he was for a long time.”
“How you love the morbid!”
“What’s that?”
“Unpleasant … gruesome.”
“I like gruesome things.”
“It’s not the wisest of preoccupations.”
She looked at me and laughed again.
“You are funny,” she said.
Looking back over that day when I retired to my room that night, I could say it had been unexpectedly satisfactory. I had some hope however flimsy of coming to an understanding with Kate.
A few days passed. To my secret delight, I was discovering that my somewhat unorthodox methods of teaching were more successful with a pupil like Kate than more conventional ones might have been. We were reading together a great deal. In fact, I held those reading sessions as a sort of bribe for good conduct during the less attractive projects. She could have read by herself but she preferred that we do it together.
She liked to share her enjoyment, which was a sign in her favour, I thought; moreover, she liked to talk about what we had read afterwards; then sometimes she might be held up because she did not know the meaning of a word. She was avid for knowledge, in spite of the fact that she had expressed her contempt for it; and she was completely intrigued by Treasure Island.
It was too much to expect a complete change in the child merely because our relationship had progressed more favourably than I had dared hope. I think it was on my fourth morning that she did not put in an appearance in the schoolroom.
I went to her room. She was looking out of the window, obviously expecting me, and I could see she was preparing to enjoy a battle.
I said: “Why are you not in the schoolroom?”
“I don’t feel like lessons today,” she replied jauntily.
“It doesn’t matter how you feel. This is lesson-time.”
“You can’t make me.”
“I certainly would not attempt to take you there by force. I shall go to your mother and tell her that you have made up your mind not to learn and there is no point in my being here.”
It was a bold step. I could not bear the thought of leaving now. Yet I knew I could get nowhere unless I had some authority over her.
She looked at me defiantly. My heart sank but I hoped I hid my feelings. I had gone too far to turn back.
“You really mean you’d go?” I saw the fear in her eyes mingling with disbelief. I sensed that she was as uneasy as I was.
I said firmly: “If you will not come to the schoolroom I have no alternative.”
She hesitated for a moment.
“All right,” she said.
“Go, if you want to.”
I walked to the door. I must not show my despair. If this was to be the end, what good had I done? But there was no turning back now. I went out. She did not move. I started down the stairs. Then I heard her.
“Come back, Cranny.”
I paused and turned to look back at her.
“All right,” I said.
“I’ll come.”
I felt flushed with victory as we made our way to the schoolroom.
She was in a difficult mood all day. I wondered why. Perhaps she felt she had been good too long and it was not in her nature to be so.
I found a dead shrew mouse in my bed that night. I carefully wrapped it up in tissue paper and went along to her room.
“I think this poor little thing belongs to you,” I said.
She looked aghast.
“Where did you find it?”
“Where you put it. In my bed.”
“I bet you screamed when you found it.”
“I did not think it frightening or funny. It’s just a rather silly cliche really.”
I could see her pondering on the word cliche. She loved discovering new words; but she was not in the mood to ask me what it meant.
I went on: “I wonder how many times some mischievous child has put a shrew mouse in someone’s bed. It’s really rather silly. You do the expected thing, Kate.”
She was a little downcast. Then she said: “Well … you brought it back, didn’t you? You were going to put it in my bed.”
“I should have done no such thing. I merely wanted you to know that your silly trick had not had the effect you thought it would. Now, if we are going to have a truce, we should put an end to these childish tricks. It would be more interesting to get on well together. There are many exciting things we could do. We don’t want to waste time having tantrums and playing silly tricks. We can talk …”
“What about?”
“About life … people …”
“Murder?” she put in.
I thought: Yes, about one. I said: “What we can do is finish Treasure Island.”
‘ “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest,” she sang,”
“Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum.”
I smiled.
“There are lots of books we can read. You haven’t read The Count of Monte Cristo yet. I saw it in the cupboard. It’s about a man who was wrongfully imprisoned and escapes to have his revenge.”
Her eyes were round with interest.
“Well,” I went on, ‘if we don’t waste our time in silly ways, we might tackle that. And there are many more. “
She did not answer, but I felt I had won another battle.
I said: “What shall we do with this poor little mouse?”
“I’ll bury it,” she said.
“That’s right. And all your silly prejudices against governesses with it. Then perhaps we can start to enjoy our lessons.”
On that note, I left her. I was victorious and triumphant.
My handling of Kate was the wonder of the household. At last someone had been found who could turn the enfant terrible into a normal child or at least who had found a way to control her.
Mrs. Ford feted me. She was delighted. She mentioned my name in an awed whisper, as though I were a battle hero covered in military glory. I was quite an important figure in the household.
It was about a week after my arrival when Lady Perrivale asked me to come to her in the drawing-room.
She was very gracious.
“You and Kate seem to be getting along very well,” she began.
“That is very good. I knew all would be well if only we could get the right person.”
“I am quite inexperienced in governessing,” I reminded her.
“Well, that is just the point. These old women have too many rules.
They are too set in their ways to understand the modern child. “
“Kate is rather unusual.”
“Well, of course. But clearly you understand her. Are you completely satisfied with everything? Is there anything … ?”
“I am satisfied, thank you very much,” I replied.
