Chapter Two
An Education
I pulled out my folder, packed with
documents relating to the first year school syllabus that I would need to be
familiar with. I continued reading over standards and child development for the
first part of my journey. Eventually, I let the endlessly lush scenery take
over as I lolled against the window with music blaring in my ears. This time it
was soft and classical, like the songs I’d taught myself on the keyboard in
music class.
Because it was summer, Mrs Fairfax said
she was not too strict about schooling but the small, French child was the ward
of a Mr Nathanial Rochester and he did not wish her to be behind when the new
school year started. It was clear Sophie did not belong to Mrs Fairfax as I’d
originally thought. Prior to her attendance in school she was used to being
cared for at home when she had lived mysteriously with her mother - in Paris,
the city of light.
‘Anne, you will not be expected to do any
cooking or cleaning; there is staff for that. Your responsibility is improving
Sophie’s English.’ Mrs Fairfax’s words
had resonated in my ear over the telephone. Hardly anyone speaks on the
telephone these days; it’s all texts and social networking. Those telephone
calls really did make me feel special. I hoped my inexperience and youth would
not be considered a disadvantage. As it turned out it was for exactly those
qualities that I was hired.
I was proficient in French, although I had
been instructed to speak to Sophie mostly in English. I hoped she wasn’t as
unruly as some of the previous children I’d babysat.
There
were also younger children in my foster families - all eight of them - until I finally
hit the jackpot and was sent to Lockwood to board. My benefactor had decided he
didn’t want anything to do with me but to appease his conscience I was sent to this
select boarding school. I assume my benefactor was a he but the actual person could have just as easily been a woman, I
suppose. The lawyer who signed my school cheques was male. I knew nothing more
about my benefactor (who insisted on a confidentiality clause), other than who his
lawyer was.
Lockwood
School was not the friendliest place, as you may have guessed. It was there
that we froze away the winters and, after Irma left, I tried to make friends
with girls who’d invite me to vacation with them over endless summers. It
almost worked but usually they tossed me to the curb after a few weeks when
they found out I could never return the favour. Inevitably, I spent the last
weeks of summer tucked up at school, learning the syllabus for the following
year. That’s really how I became academically gifted; I had nothing better to
do. And of course, I liked to read and draw; qualities which helped me inhabit
my own little world.
I was surprised in some ways, that when I
turned eighteen, I had nowhere to go and my benefactor didn’t want to meet me.
It would have been upsetting but I was so ready to embrace my freedom I put
this unnecessary slight out of my mind and resolved to get on with my life, now
that I could finally, legally, make some decisions for myself.
I arrived in the village near Thornton Hall
at night. I was to stay at an inn. Next morning I would get a lift to Hay Lane
which led to the vast estate of Thornton. Mrs Fairfax had arranged for some
neighbours to meet me.
The inn was small, friendly and
comforting. I ate my dinner (sausages, mashed potato and beans) and drank a
glass of lemonade. I pushed my food around on my plate. It reminded me of some
of the worst excesses of boarding school – food fights and eating competitions.
When the teachers were absent, the older girls and prefects made the rules. (Some
of the older girls locked us in a room in one of the sports houses…) The prefects
were the worst in that school. You were nothing when you first arrived. There
were all sorts of standards and anti-bullying messages but the younger students
were still bullied to within an inch of their lives by the older ones. If you were
bullied and spoke up, it only made things worse. I was twelve when I arrived at
the school and I had to prove myself until I was older and became a prefect
myself. Our group tried to install a different set of rules and I’d like to
think the younger students that followed us were a little less feral than the
older ones who’d been the original bullies at Lockwood. However, boarding school
was ultimately better than some of the foster care I’d been allocated. I
shuddered at the memory of strange people and unfamiliar beds.
My room at the inn that night was warm. I
heard the crash of the sea in the distance. I was getting closer to the cliffs
of Cornwall and I couldn’t wait to see them, especially now that I could hear the
ocean. Is there any sleep deeper or more luxurious than one where you listen to
the folding waves nearby? I doubted it.
The next morning, the sky shone brilliant
with sun. I heard a voice from downstairs.
‘Anne? Anne Eyre?’
I walked down to the foyer, sleepy eyed.
A
youngish man with blonde hair spoke from the first floor.
‘My name is Connor Rivers. I’m a friend of
Mrs Fairfax; we are from the same church. My sisters and I are visiting Devon
and we’ve offered to drive you to Thornton since we wanted to see that part of
the coastline anyway.’
I looked perplexed.
Connor smiled, welcomingly.
‘Mrs Fairfax said she’d left you a
message.’
I checked my phone; sure enough, there it
was.
‘Oh yes,’ I said, remembering. ‘Just a
minute.’ I wasn’t used to such hospitality in London.
‘My sisters and I live in Devon but we’ve
come to visit friends on a neighbouring property, not far from Thornton.’
Connor introduced his sisters who were
young and pretty and suited their names, Rainbow and Daisy.
I did a double take. The girls wore
flowing skirts, bare feet and flowers in their hair. All of the siblings looked
alike and the girls waved to me as if we already knew each other. They seemed
friendly and safe.
‘I’m with my sisters, we’re about to
leave. We have a church christening to go to….’ And he spoke on.
Connor seemed nice enough. He could not
have been more than twenty-one and I’d say his sisters were younger than me. As
we drove, the siblings talked about how they were raising money for a local country
fair to be held in a few months. They were also building a school in India and talked
animatedly about this.
I stared out the window as I listened. I
admired their enthusiasm for helping others. As I’d just escaped from school,
the idea of helping to build another one, didn’t capture my imagination. Tutoring
one pupil in a spacious country home, however, would be different. Rainbow and Daisy chatted away about their new
home in Devon and the church youth group they enjoyed as Connor loaded my
meagre belongings into the car.
The girls conversed with me warmly during
the long drive.
‘And you finished school in London?’ Daisy
asked, ‘Oh, it’s such a big city. My sister and I prefer the country, but we’ve
been shopping in Oxford Street a few times and it was so much fun.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Rainbow said, ‘I adore department
stores.’
‘My sisters sound far more materialistic
than they are,’ Connor assured me.
‘That’s alright,’ I said, ‘I also love
shopping in London. Where do you think I bought my new coat?’
Rainbow and Daisy both admired the fabric.
‘Even so,’ Connor said, ‘we were in town for
a church picnic in Hyde Park. It was a
lovely day and I’m sure we all remember it more for the new friends we
made than the items we bought.’
Connor’s sisters giggled and Rainbow
raised her eyebrow at her brother’s seriousness.
‘Of course,’ Daisy said, smiling at me.
‘I like Hyde Park and St James’ Park. They
are beautiful in summer or winter,’ I added.
The sisters nodded in agreement.
I fell asleep during the second half of
the journey. When I woke up, the girls were singing and I could see Thornton
Hall in the distance.
‘Here we are,’ Connor announced.
Thornton was a large, majestic building
that towered over the lush farming fields surrounding it.
‘Anne?’
Daisy’s voice rang out.
‘Wake up, Anne,’ Rainbow sang prettily.
‘Miles away,’ Daisy said, tugging my
shoulder.
Apart
from being tired, I slept because I slept got motion sickness and this had
always been my body’s way of preventing it. The movement of the car helped make
me drowsy but the singing woke me. I listened to the distant sound of the water
lapping the shore. We were driving along the highest cliff, not far from where Thornton
Hall was situated. To reach the driveway that led to the main house, we rambled
along Hay Lane in the brilliant morning light. It had been a long journey from
my London bedsit to here.
The car stopped and so did the tuneful but
high pitched singing of the sisters.
I rolled out of the car to see an imposing
mansion up close. Because it was warm for this time of year, there was no mist
but a light film of salty air greeted my lips as I stepped out from the car.
‘Can
I take your bag, Anne?’ Connor asked me. ‘Normally we’d come in for tea with
Mrs Fairfax but we’re running a bit behind schedule.’
The boy smiled. There is no way I should
have referred to him as the boy in my
mind, since he was actually three years older than me. For some reason, his
trusting glance made him seem sheltered, unlike me.
‘It’s okay,’ I said, embarrassed I had so
few belongings.
‘Suit yourself,’ he said. I hoped somehow I
hadn’t offended him. ‘This place used to have tons of racehorses when Lord
Rochester was alive. The money this family had - still has, would buy a small
country. I only hope they use some of it for good purposes. I’ve heard tons of
stories about the new owner, Nate Rochester.’
‘You mean Nathanial Fairfax Rochester?’
‘Yes, he sometimes uses a shortened version
of his first name. He’s very modern, for an aristocrat.’ Connor looked into my
eyes and smiled. He seemed to want to
tell me something.
‘You really have never travelled anywhere,
have you Anne?’
‘Not unless you count all over London.’
He smiled.
‘Well, out here in the country, things may
seem kinder, but we have our fair share of secrets.’
I wondered what he meant.
‘Anyway, we’re heading back to the village
now for the christening. At the end of the year, my sisters and I are going to India.’
I realized Connor intended to travel the
world. He seemed to want to delay my departure, glancing at me as he jumped
into the car.
‘Just a tip - the owner of Thornton has a
bit of trouble keeping his staff now that the old man’s gone. I’ve heard
strange stories about this place. Just remember, Anne, in the modern world, no
one has slaves anymore. Tell Mrs Fairfax I’m leaving the car to be collected
from the station.’
I nodded.
Is that what I was to become? A paid slave?
A soft chill air wafted across the threshold
as the Rivers siblings drove off. I walked towards Thornton Hall and knocked on
the heavy door, apprehensively.
