father, and was practically as much a fixture of the place as the bricks and mortar. As a doctor, he could manage without a nurse, but he could never hope to last a day without a schoolmistress.
âIt isnât Nurse Landway exactly, Dr. Parker.â
Daniel wasnât sure if that boded well or ill. âWell, then, what is it exactly?â
âThat woman just spent the last thirty minutes trying to convince me that knitting involved mathematics. As if I should be tucking yarn and needles inside the girlsâ textbooks.â
Daniel never favored sums and figures as a child, nor as a man, as his current battle with accounting accurately proved. âIs there math in knitting? Iâd no idea.â
Mrs. Smiley huffed. âWell, if you want to ask Nurse Landway about it, make sure youâve got half an hour to spare. I declare, but that woman can go on.â
âShe has a certain...â He searched for the right word that would agree with her but yet still defend his new nurse. â...enthusiasm, Iâll agree.â
âI want your assurance such foolishness will not be entering my classroom.â Mrs. Smileyâs plump hands planted on her hips. âThe last thing I need is those girls thinking about fiddling with stitchery when Iâve got multiplication to teach.â
âPerhaps she was just making conversation.â Miss Landway did seem eager to make friends with just about anyone. Perhaps she viewed the dour Mrs. Smiley as an interpersonal challenge.
âMake conversation? That woman has no need to dream up conversation. She has chatter seeping out of her pores, bless her heart.â Like generations of Southern women before her, Jane Smiley applied the platitude of âbless her heartâ at the end of any negative judgment. Somehow considered the universal absolution of an unkind comment, to Daniel âbless her heartâ simply allowed women of good breeding to be delicately mean. The opinion was confirmed by the next sentence out of his schoolmistressâs mouth. âIf I want my meals in a circus, Iâll just head on down to the tavern.â
The thought of prim Mrs. Smiley hoisting a mug with the townâs multitude of sailors in a tavern was about as ludicrous as it was entertaining. But he couldnât agree with the substance of her complaint. The truth was, Daniel was rather coming to enjoy Miss Landwayâs way of livening up conversation at the staff dining table. Heâd learned things about his staff since her arrival that heâd never known in the years he worked here. Yes, she could be difficult at times, and he was quite sure sheâd challenge him on any number of subjects once she settled in properly. His initial reservations, however, were giving way to a reluctant admission that Ida Landway might actually be good for the Parker Home for Orphans. âWhat is it youâd like me to do, Mrs. Smiley?â Heâd learned this to be an effective questionâoften Mrs. Smiley didnât actually want any action taken, she just wanted her views to be known. Clearly and in considerable detail.
Apparently this was the present case, for she blinked and huffed again, caught up short at the request for a suggestion. While the schoolmistress was never short of opinions, she rarely had suggestions. Miss Landway, on the other hand, seemed to boast an endless supply of both. âMind she knows her limits, Dr. Parker.â
âIndeed I will, Mrs. Smiley.â It was, in truth, a valid suggestion. Daniel had already concluded that guiding Miss Landway to see her proper boundaries and not to step on toes would be the key to her fitting in on the staff. He switched the subject. âHow is Miss Forley doing in her studies these days? I know she was having some trouble earlier.â
Nothing puffed up Jane Smiley like the accomplishments of her charges. âExemplary. Once Donna put her mind to it, she caught on
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