Read Online One Glorious Ambition by Jane Kirkpatrick - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jane Kirkpatrick
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one must do to survive,” Madam Dix said. She wiped her face with a napkin, beads of sweat having formed above her lip.
Is she ill?
“Mrs. Hudson has faithful boarders, many of them divinity students from Harvard. Thank you,” she told Cookie after the cook had poured hot water into the tea caddy before rising to clear the soup bowls. “The others I believeare legislators and their wives. They are in Boston during the sessions.”
“I’ve met Mrs. Hudson. She seems more than adequate to the task of running the house.”
They finished the meal. Since it was already late, Dorothea said good night. She hugged Charles and shook Joseph’s little hand when he put it out to her. Then she walked in a daze across the lawn to Orange Court. No one had said a word about their mother. Better that she forget she ever had a mother. This was the family she had now. A lonely hoot owl expressed her feelings exactly.
Dorothea took her meals with the boarders while Charles and Joseph took theirs with their grandmother at the cottage. The family attended church together since her grandmother had already paid the pew fees. Dorothea’s request that the boys live in Orange Court and attend her school when she started it fell into her grandmother’s brooding silence like a rock sinking to the bottom of a pond.
“They will be tutored at the cottage,” she said. “Your school fees can pay for it.”
Dorothea watched her brothers roll hoops on the cottage lawn and didn’t attempt to join them. She knew her grandmother would find it unseemly. Instead, she worked on her school, hoping to recreate the same sense of goodwill she had managed in Worcester. Her students would be girls. She would add her brothers if hergrandmother relented. Dorothea expanded the age range, including girls up to age seventeen so that she might use the older girls as assistants and thus extend the number of students she could teach.
Not two blocks away from Orange Court a best-selling author had begun an academy for young ladies, and everyone praised her efforts. Dorothea could do as well, couldn’t she? Her school might receive a public distinction that would help her find acceptance in Boston society, if not for making a “fine marriage,” for doing something to further the public good. “Doing public good” was a constant theme of the divinity students who boarded at Mrs. Hudson’s table.
The school began within a few weeks of Dorothea’s arrival in Boston. Her previous success opened the door to parents asking her opinion about managing a child’s behavior or how they could encourage their children at home. A few parents invited her to supper as others had in Worcester. She had even discovered that her youngest student, Marianna Cutter, was a second cousin.
“How wonderful! We’re family,” she told Marianna’s mother, Grace, after the young widow shared the news.
“It’s quite down the line, you understand. I believe your grandmother is my grandmother’s cousin.”
“Close enough,” Dorothea said. She stroked Marianna’s chestnut hair as they talked. The girl carried herself with confidence although she was but five. She had the same Dix blue-gray eyes.
“I’d invite you to supper,” Dorothea said, “but it’s Mrs. Hudson who permits supper guests or not. I’ll speak with her and hope you can join us at a later date.”
“In time we’ll invite you.” A grayish pallor painted the young mother’s skin. She was as thin as a knitting needle.
Dorothea kissed Marianna on the child’s pug nose—definitely not a Dix nose—and Marianna took her seat, waving to her mother as the woman left. Dorothea had already found delight in the girl. Her quick mind and helpful spirit lit up the room. Now she paid even more attention: Marianna was family, right here in her schoolroom.
After a few months, Madam Dix permitted the boys to attend Dorothea’s school. “Their tutor tires” was her only explanation. Dorothea smiled when
Is she ill?
“Mrs. Hudson has faithful boarders, many of them divinity students from Harvard. Thank you,” she told Cookie after the cook had poured hot water into the tea caddy before rising to clear the soup bowls. “The others I believeare legislators and their wives. They are in Boston during the sessions.”
“I’ve met Mrs. Hudson. She seems more than adequate to the task of running the house.”
They finished the meal. Since it was already late, Dorothea said good night. She hugged Charles and shook Joseph’s little hand when he put it out to her. Then she walked in a daze across the lawn to Orange Court. No one had said a word about their mother. Better that she forget she ever had a mother. This was the family she had now. A lonely hoot owl expressed her feelings exactly.
Dorothea took her meals with the boarders while Charles and Joseph took theirs with their grandmother at the cottage. The family attended church together since her grandmother had already paid the pew fees. Dorothea’s request that the boys live in Orange Court and attend her school when she started it fell into her grandmother’s brooding silence like a rock sinking to the bottom of a pond.
“They will be tutored at the cottage,” she said. “Your school fees can pay for it.”
Dorothea watched her brothers roll hoops on the cottage lawn and didn’t attempt to join them. She knew her grandmother would find it unseemly. Instead, she worked on her school, hoping to recreate the same sense of goodwill she had managed in Worcester. Her students would be girls. She would add her brothers if hergrandmother relented. Dorothea expanded the age range, including girls up to age seventeen so that she might use the older girls as assistants and thus extend the number of students she could teach.
Not two blocks away from Orange Court a best-selling author had begun an academy for young ladies, and everyone praised her efforts. Dorothea could do as well, couldn’t she? Her school might receive a public distinction that would help her find acceptance in Boston society, if not for making a “fine marriage,” for doing something to further the public good. “Doing public good” was a constant theme of the divinity students who boarded at Mrs. Hudson’s table.
The school began within a few weeks of Dorothea’s arrival in Boston. Her previous success opened the door to parents asking her opinion about managing a child’s behavior or how they could encourage their children at home. A few parents invited her to supper as others had in Worcester. She had even discovered that her youngest student, Marianna Cutter, was a second cousin.
“How wonderful! We’re family,” she told Marianna’s mother, Grace, after the young widow shared the news.
“It’s quite down the line, you understand. I believe your grandmother is my grandmother’s cousin.”
“Close enough,” Dorothea said. She stroked Marianna’s chestnut hair as they talked. The girl carried herself with confidence although she was but five. She had the same Dix blue-gray eyes.
“I’d invite you to supper,” Dorothea said, “but it’s Mrs. Hudson who permits supper guests or not. I’ll speak with her and hope you can join us at a later date.”
“In time we’ll invite you.” A grayish pallor painted the young mother’s skin. She was as thin as a knitting needle.
Dorothea kissed Marianna on the child’s pug nose—definitely not a Dix nose—and Marianna took her seat, waving to her mother as the woman left. Dorothea had already found delight in the girl. Her quick mind and helpful spirit lit up the room. Now she paid even more attention: Marianna was family, right here in her schoolroom.
After a few months, Madam Dix permitted the boys to attend Dorothea’s school. “Their tutor tires” was her only explanation. Dorothea smiled when
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