Bloody Lessons (7 page)

“Sounds like a good strategy.” Nate looked out the door to the empty hallway,
then put his arm around her again. “Now, before any of the boarders come out of the dining room, I have something of greater importance to discuss. Have I told you yet tonight how beautiful you are?”

And before Annie could answer, Nate kissed her.

Chapter Nine

Monday afternoon, January 12, 1880

"Superintendent Taylor moved that a Committee be appointed to consider the advisability of granting diplomas to the young ladies of the Normal class who are to graduate in May next:" ––
San Francisco Chronicle
, 1880

“Miss Dawson, I want to say again how much I appreciate your willingness to let Miss Blaine assist in your classroom this term. I’ve told her how fortunate she is to get the chance to work with someone who has just graduated from the state Normal School. Such a superior education.” Della Thorndike, the Girls' High normal class teacher, smiled warmly at Laura. Pulling the shy Miss Blaine forward, she said, “Kitty, my dear, do tell Miss Dawson how pleased you are.”

The young woman, a redhead whose heart-shaped face was marred by a distinct look of annoyance, murmured, “Yes miss, so pleased.”

Laura had been annoyed herself when she arrived in the teachers’ room of Clement Grammar for her meeting with Miss Thorndike and discovered she had brought along the student teacher she wanted to place in Laura’s class. But Hattie’s positive description of Miss Thorndike had reassured her, so she didn’t object. In fact, by the time Miss Thorndike finished telling her about the well-ordered sequence of training she had developed for the students engaged in practice teaching, Laura felt quite pleased about agreeing to the whole enterprise.

Since Miss Blaine had her pedagogy classes in the morning, she would be at Clement Grammar only in the afternoons between noon and four. The first two weeks
, she would be observing Laura’s teaching. Then, under Laura’s supervision, she would work with small groups of students on their math or reading, followed by four weeks where Miss Blaine would lead the class for an hour each day. Once a week, Laura would meet with Miss Thorndike to review the progress the student teacher was making. The culmination of her training would come when the young woman would lead the class entirely by herself for a week, under the observation of both Laura and Miss Thorndike. If Hattie wasn’t going to have any time for her, then Laura looked forward to being able to discuss her classes in detail with Miss Thorndike.

“Kitty must leave us now. Her father’s carriage will be waiting for her, won’t it
, dear?” Miss Thorndike nodded to Miss Blaine, whose alabaster cheeks turned bright red. “I, however, would like to stay a bit longer, Miss Dawson, if it is convenient, to make sure you don’t have any additional questions.”

Laura watched with some sartorial envy as Miss Blaine pulled on a pair of expensive kid gloves that were dyed a sky blue to match her fashionably tight-fitting, cuirass-styled suit. After she left, Laura offered to make tea for Miss Thorndike, who had begged her to call her Della, using the kettle that stayed at the boil on the oil stove in the teachers’ room. Della Thorndike, obviously well known by the other
Clement teachers, chatted with three women stopping by to check their mail boxes before leaving for the day.

While waiting for the pot to steep, Laura covertly examined Della, who was one of those silver blondes with soft, creamy skin that looked ageless. Laura would have judged her to be still in her late twenties if she hadn’t mentioned that she was fifteen when she’d started teaching nearly twenty years earlier. She was dressed in an elegant ensemble, a dark green satin underskirt with matching plaid wool overskirt, black ribbon trimming, and a delicate black lace ruff, starched to frame her long pale neck and her jet black earrings, which glinted in the room’s gas light. Laura wondered if the Misses
Moffet would be able to produce anything that beautiful for her, then added to her list of grievances that Andrew Russell’s appearance on Saturday had squelched any chance of Hattie going shopping with her that day.

As Laura listened to Della’s easy conversation with the other teachers, the
bereft feeling she’d been fighting all weekend returned. How was she ever going to find a friendship as dear to her as the one she’d had with Hattie? Laura had never told any of her family how frightened she’d been her first week at San Jose Normal School. At only sixteen, she had never been away from home before, and because she’d been taught at home by her mother, this was also her first extended experience with people her own age. She’d found her classmates mystifying, as if they were talking to each other in a coded language. Then she’d met Hattie, who lived in her boarding house, and everything changed.

Every room Laura entered became welcoming as long as she was pulled along in Hattie’s wake. Hattie turned every missed exam question, muffed recitation, or awkward social encounter into a funny story they would share at night over their hot cocoa. Hattie always made her feel special, cherished, and even brave. Brave enough to go off to her first teaching assignment at Cupertino Creek. Even though she’d made a mess of that job, she had survived by telling herself that once she was reunited with Hattie, everything would be all right. Now it turned out Hattie had pledged herself to another, and nothing would ever be the same again.

Della turned to Laura and drew her into the small group of other teachers, saying, “Dear Laura, you must come here this minute. Miss Beale is longing to ask if you are familiar with a certain Ned Goodwin, her fiancé, who is currently at San Jose Normal School.”

“Oh, yes,” Laura said, shaking Miss Beale’s hand. “Ned was in the class behind me, but we took botany together with Miss Norton. A very lively mind and well-liked by his classmates,” she continued, guessing that the quiet Miss Beale wouldn’t want to hear how entrancing her female classmates had found Ned’s blue eyes, luxuriant mustache, and cheerful smile. As far as she knew, he had not succumbed to any of their blandishments, so maybe it was this shy, soft-spoken young brunette that was keeping him faithful. She wondered if there was a diplomatic way of getting Miss Beale to find out from Ned whether Seth Timmons was still at San Jose finishing up his studies.
Yes, a better acquaintance with Celia Beale might be very illuminating.

After a little more conversation, the rest of the
teachers left, and Della Thorndike sat down to expand on Laura’s supervisory responsibilities with Kitty Blaine. When they got to the plan to have Kitty work on her own with the slower readers, Della said, “I don’t know how Kitty is going to respond if they aren’t completely cooperative. You might need to intervene if you see things getting out of hand. She is a bright young woman who excels in all her subjects, but as you may have observed, she can be a bit socially ill-at-ease. Her father, you know, is quite wealthy, nothing but the best for his little Kitty.”

Laura wondered why being cosseted by a loving parent would make a young girl socially awkward.

As if to answer her unspoken question, Della went on, saying, “Her mother died shortly after her birth, and Kitty was brought up entirely by English governesses. She was educated at home until two years ago when she entered the middle year at Girls' High.”

Sighing, she leaned towards Laura and, in a confiding tone, said, “Kitty has had some trouble fitting in with the other girls. We have students from the best families in the city, so I don’t know exactly what the problem is. She seems most comfortable with her male instructors, who are dazzled by her erudition. She is fluent in Greek and Latin.
Quite impressive. But I have decided this semester to take the poor thing under my wing. Mother her a little. I hope you will do so as well.”

Aware that she was only a year or two older than Kitty, Laura wasn’t sure that the young woman would take at all kindly to being mothered by her. In fact, it was her distinct impression that Kitty wasn’t that enthusiastic about being Miss Thorndike’s special
protégé. But, since Kitty knew Greek and Latin, the two subjects Laura needed to master if she wanted to pass the entrance exam for the University, it seemed sensible to cultivate her friendship.

Della continued to tell her about her plans for Kitty, getting up to freshen their tea, obviously very at home in the Clement Grammar teachers’ room. As she chattered on, Laura’s thoughts drifted back to Hattie. She was frustrated that she hadn’t gotten the chance to tell her friend about her oldest Cupertino Creek student, Buck Morrison, and how Seth had intervened. And then there was the alley attack last week that she’d been anxious to talk to her about. The more Laura went over what happened, the less sure she was that it had been Seth. She really could have used some reassurance from Hattie on Saturday, but just when Laura was about to bring up Seth
, the dratted Andrew Russell had interrupted them.

She couldn’t understand why Hattie found Russell so attractive. He was only of medium build, with regular,
unremarkable features. His chiseled jaw and his dark amber-colored eyes, magnified by gold-rimmed glasses, did give him an air of strength, but Laura found his habit of running his hands through his hair both irritating and immature. No doubt Hattie found it
endearing
. After Hattie had whispered into his ear, he had told Laura how pleased he was that she had agreed to attend “his sweet girl” at the wedding ceremony.

Laura hadn’t been sure she would be able to stay civil if she had to listen to his fake attempts
at trying to flatter her, so she manufactured a prior engagement requiring her immediate return to the O’Farrell Street boarding house. Mr. Russell had offered to get her a cab, but in her desperation to get away, she’d refused his offer and was down the stairs and halfway home before she remembered her promise to Annie to go nowhere unaccompanied. Fortunately, no one saw her come into the house, so no one was the wiser. At least Hattie had agreed to visit her at the O’Farrell Street house this coming Saturday morning. They could have a longer talk then, without Andrew Russell.

“Miss Thorndike, Miss Dawson, how good to see you two have met.”

The tea cups clattered, and Laura was startled to see Russell at the door to the teachers’ room. Since he was the Vice Principal of Clement Grammar, she shouldn’t have been surprised, but she felt somehow hounded by his presence. Here she was having a nice cozy talk with a potential new friend, and once again he was interfering.

“Mr. Russell, you will be pleased to learn that Miss Dawson has agreed to take Kitty Blaine on this term for her practice teaching,” Della Thorndike said, putting a warm hand on Laura’s shoulder.

“Wonderful. I am sure Miss Blaine will benefit from the experience.” Russell came into the room. “I do hope you are getting settled in with your seventh grade class, Miss Dawson. Miss Wilks was quite fond of her students, I know.”

Della responded before Laura could, saying, “I understand that you are distressed that Miss
Wilks decided to quit so precipitously, Mr. Russell, but I am very confident that Miss Dawson will have no difficulty filling her shoes.” She then gave Laura’s shoulder a little squeeze.

Laura, sensing some undercurrent she couldn’t define, nodded pleasantly to Russell, hoping if she didn’t encourage him, he would just go away.

There was a brief silence while Russell fiddled with his watch fob and ineffectually brushed back the thick shock of mud brown hair that had fallen over one eye. Then he bowed slightly to both of them and said, “Well, well, I won’t keep you; I can tell you have business to complete. Miss Thorndike, it was a pleasure to see you. Miss Dawson, do feel free to come to me if you have any questions. I was sorry that our time together on Saturday was cut short, but I am confident that we will have many other opportunities in the future. Once again, let me tell you how pleased I am that you are teaching for us.” He left, closing the door behind him.

Della moved back to the tea table and brought the cups over and placed one in front of Laura. “So kind of him to stop by; he is so busy. I don’t know what
Clement’s Principal DuBois would do without Mr. Russell. She is quite capable in terms of academic issues, but the Vice Principal is in charge of school discipline, and I think that it is advisable to have a male in that position of authority. Of course, he also has excellent academic credentials. You may have heard that, in addition to his duties here at Clement, he also teaches Greek and Latin and tutors students in German at Girls' High. He studied the classical curriculum at the University of Rochester, and he was in the first graduating class of the California State Normal school when it moved to San Jose.”

Laura again nodded but said nothing, feeling irritated to find another Andrew Russell admirer. Perhaps Della Thorndike wished to mother him the way she mothered Kitty Blaine.

Della went on. “I was surprised to hear he had time to meet with you on a Saturday, given how busy he is.”

“Oh, no, you misunderstood,”
Laura said. “I was visiting Miss Wilks. We are very old friends, and Mr. Russell happened to stop by.”

“Oh, I hadn’t realized. Of course that makes sense
, since you are both recent graduates of the Normal School. How convenient that you were able to take her place when she had to leave so precipitously. Some health issues, I believe I heard. I hope she is doing well.”

Laura, reminded of her own suspicion that Hattie might be ill, wondered if there was something more behind Hattie’s decision to leave teaching besides her concern about the proprieties and her decision to marry. Interested in hearing what Della thought, she said, “She did mention in her last letter to me before Thanksgiving that a nasty influenza was going around among the students and teachers. Was Hattie hit particularly hard?”