Page 88 of Harpy of the Ton
I’m doin’ this so you don’t get hurt.
“You’re too late,” she whispered, placing her palm over her heart.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Mrs. Baxter, Iwant a word.”
Mrs. Chantry stood at the school entrance, her expression resembling a crow ready to pick over a carcass.
“What about?” Bella asked.
“Your children, of course.” Mrs. Chantry beckoned to the interior of the building. “Inside. Now.”
“Would you speak to my husband like that?”
“Your husband’s not here, is he?” Mrs. Chantry wrinkled her nose as if Bella exuded a bad smell.
Lawrence had been away for two days, leaving Bella friendless in Brackens Hill now Sophie had moved to the next village with Sam. With a sigh, she followed the teacher inside to where her children waited in the classroom.
William stuck his thumb in his mouth. Roberta sat, arms folded, defiance in her eyes, fidgeting as if trying to find a comfortable position. Jonathan poked Roberta in the ribs as Bella entered.
“What have you done?” Bella said.
“Ha-ha!” Jonathan sang. “Bobby’s in trouble again!”
“Go and jump in a ditch!”
“Roberta Baxter!” Mrs. Chantry cried. “Didn’t I tell you what would happen if you spoke again in my presence?”
Roberta opened her mouth to respond. Mrs. Chantry stepped toward her, and the little girl cringed.
“Mrs. Chantry, please explain what’s going on,” Bella said. “What have you done to my daughter?”
“I’vedone nothing,” the teacher said. “She’srefusing to tidy up the classroom.”
Bella suppressed a laugh, remembering the battles she’d engaged in, and lost, with the children about tidying their bedchamber. “Is thatall?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“Do the other children refuse to tidy up?”
“I don’t requirethemto do it.”
“Why not?”
“Because the other children are boys. Roberta is agirl!”
“So, you expect my daughter to clean up after everyone because she’s a girl,” Bella said. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“It’s perfectly fair, Mrs. Baxter. Your daughter will have a home of her own to keep clean, and a husband to obey. Or do you want her to fail in that as in everything else?”
“In what way is my daughter a failure?”
The teacher snorted. “Allyour children are failures. Especially that little brat.” She gestured toward Jonathan. “He can’t even read. Herefuses—as I discovered only today.”
“You’ve discovered ittoday?” Bella asked. “That doesn’t say much for your teaching skills.”
“He’s been lying to me, and his brother and sister have been part of that deception.”
