He moved back to his chair and sat down, frustrated with his first official encounter with Sarah.
As soon as Sarah and her mother had sat down on the other side of the table, the butler and the chambermaid appeared to serve the starter: a neat little salad, topped with caviar. It wasnʼt quite what Henry had had in mind to quench his enormous hunger, but he was positive that there were still more nourishing things to come shortly.
Nobody spoke while they were eating, and apart from the sounds of cutlery against plates, it was incredibly quiet. The chambermaid and the butler were standing in the corner, stiff as statues, waiting for the lordship and the guests to finish so that they could clear the table and serve the next course.
“Adrian, are you making progress at university at all?” Lord Partridge suddenly asked during the break in between the starter and the main course, and carefully blotted his lips with a napkin. Just as it suited a noble man, his gestures were elegant and controlled even in the moment when he secretly tried to remove some bits of caviar that had got stuck in his huge mustache.
“Very much so, Sir,” Adrian replied enthusiastically.
“Especially when it comes to girls,” Harold threw in, bursting out with laughter.
Lady Partridge cast her son a mortified look and almost let her spoon drop to the floor.
“Harold...! I am appalled at your manners! We have guests today...” she exclaimed. Harold immediately fell silent while Adrianʼs face had become all red. Henry noticed that Dr. Scott was trying hard to suppress a grin.
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Lord Partridge began to speak again. He had the habit of not looking at anyone and only occasionally raised an eyebrow—mostly in disapproval of something.
“It is scandalous enough that women are allowed to go to university nowadays, but I most definitely do not desire to have a son who goes pursuing them at such a young age.”
“Oh, I… I do not pursue them. Harold is terribly exaggerating,” Adrian stammered, throwing an angry side glance at his brother. “The girls are not located in the same building as the boys anyway.”
“Well, thanks be to God for that…” Lord Partridge rolled his eyes skywards. “Just imagine a dozen of young men and women in their process of becoming adults being distracted by each other when all they should do is learn. You are too young to get involved with a woman. Finish your studies first. And when you have done so and have found work which suits your standards, you are more than welcome to consider having a family. But on a very different note, I think that women are supposed to look after the offspring. I do not see any reason at all why a woman should have the same education as a man.”
“So why is he here then?” Sarah suddenly asked, pointing her head in Henryʼs direction. Her eyes sent out little furious sparkles towards her father. Some of these sparkles hit Henry on the way.
Lord Partridge seemed unimpressed by his daughterʼs rude and impulsive behavior.
“Mr. Abbott—as he is called, my dear—is here to teach you some manners and everything else that will be essential for you once you are married and move up into society circles where you need to be able to properly converse and where you should not ridicule anyone with inappropriate remarks. That is the reason why he is here. Is it not so, Mr. Abbott?”
“I am not going to marry,” Sarah said determinedly before Henry had a chance to answer.
“Donʼt be silly, of course you will. You know how eager Damian is to make you his wife,” Lady Partridge countered.
“I am too young!”
“Your birthday is drawing near, and then you will have just the right age to become the wife of Damian Cox. He is only three years older than you are.”
“I do not want Damian. He is a fool!” Sarah spat out Damianʼs name with disgust.
“Young Lady, you should be glad that someone like Damian displays the slightest sign of interest in you at all,” Lord Partridge exclaimed, his voice unexpectedly loud and harsh. “God knows whatʼs driving him to put up with a stubborn girl like you—but at the end of the day, I could not care less.”
“... As long as I am out of the house and do not ruin your reputation and your business,” Sarah muttered.
Lord Partridge angrily threw his napkin onto the table.
“One more word, Sarah, and I will send you up to your room.”
Henry saw that Sarahʼs hand trembled. He reckoned that she would jump up from her chair and leave voluntarily, but courage failed her. So she just remained seated and pulled a sulking face.
“Well, Mr. Abbott,” Lord Partridge said, letting out a sigh, “take this as a little foretaste of what you can expect as from tomorrow.”
It was a welcome distraction when the butler and the chambermaid reappeared with several platters.
During the following hour, which passed without any further unpleasant incidents, Henry feasted on boiled potatoes and roasted vegetables, on delicate pieces of pike, garnished with slices of lemon, and on chocolate cake and fruit. After that sumptuous meal, he felt more than saturated and, tired as he was, desperately longed for his bed. But he didnʼt dare to get up and excuse himself as long as nobody else did. He threw a secret glance at his watch and realized that it was rather late, but the Partridges didnʼt seem to be in a hurry.
Sarah, who had quietly endured the evening, was absent-mindedly staring at her plate, appearing as if she rather wanted to be somewhere else.
As if she doesnʼt belong at all… Henry thought. He caught himself secretly peeking at her every so often and was grateful that she didnʼt notice because otherwise she would have seen how his eyes hung on her lips, which were soft, full, and of a lovely carnation pink. Henry found that if Sarah hadnʼt looked so sad and angry, she would undoubtedly have been a real beauty of a girl.
“...Donʼt you think, Mr. Abbott?”
Startled, Henry looked up. Everyoneʼs eyes were directed towards him as the little congregation around the dinner table was obviously waiting for Henryʼs response to a question that Dr. Scott had posed to him. But Henry didnʼt have the slightest idea what the man had been talking about.
“Oh, please do forgive me, Dr. Scott. I… I am afraid, I did not realize that you were talking to me…” Henry stammered, embarrassedly.
Dr. Scott burst out with laughter. Clearly, he didnʼt mind Henryʼs absent-mindedness but seemed to find it rather amusing instead. Henry wondered, however, if the doctor had become aware of him staring at Sarah and felt slightly uncomfortable at the thought of it.
“Has the wine already gone to your head?” Dr. Scott sniggered and raised his glass. “It has definitely gone to mine.”
“Maybe it is just exhaustion. It has been a long day,” Henry answered politely.
“Or has Sarah already worn you out during the first few hours since your arrival?” Harold giggled.
From the corner of his eye, Henry noticed that Sarah frowned at her brotherʼs remark. Angrily, she picked at the bits of fruit on her plate with her fork.
“I have not had the pleasure as yet to get to know her properly,” Henry answered, not daring to look at the girl as he was somewhat afraid that this might annoy her.
“Be careful that you do not fall over a bucket of water tomorrow,” Adrian said.
“...Or end up under one. She enjoys emptying out buckets above peopleʼs heads, you know,” Harold added.
The two young men couldnʼt stop laughing. The others sat in tense silence around the table.
“Enough now,” Lord Partridge suddenly raised his voice. With a quick gesture, he indicated Roderick to come and clear the table.
There were no further arguments. Everyone finally finished their plates, and one after the other got up and made their way towards the door, leaving the mess on the table for the chambermaid and the butler to tidy up. Henry guessed that only then, after they had waited for so long, it would be the staffʼs own turn to eat something—and it was already way past nine oʼclock.
Henry finished
his glass of wine and knuckled his eyes. He and Sarah were the only ones left sitting at the table. Sarah was lazily nibbling on a piece of apple. Henry guessed that she purposely took her time because she wanted to infuriate everybody else by generally doing things contrary to what other people demanded of her.
Suddenly, she looked at Henry. There was an awkward silence between them as Sarah watched Henry watch her, as she observed him and shamelessly studied his features. There was no expression on her face whatsoever, and nothing about her gave her feelings for him away. There were just her looks that didnʼt seem to say anything at all. Henry noticed, though, that no real meanness lay in her eyes but rather something which he interpreted as sadness.
“Mr. Abbott, will you join me in the library for a cigar?” Lord Partridge suddenly called over to him. It sounded more like a command than an offer.
Henry had no desire to join Lord Partridge for a cigar. He wanted to remain seated at the table with Sarah and try to find out if she was willing to talk to him at some stage, or if she had secretly decided to remain mute and inaccessible forever.
But then he got up and followed Lord Partridge out of the room.
* * *
On that night Sarah stood at her open window for a long time, breathing in the cool air. The chilly breeze caressed her skin and rose little goose bumps on her flesh. She started to hum a song that her mother had sung to her when she had been a child. After a little while, she climbed into her bed and took a leather bound book and a pencil from her bedside table.
She opened the book and began to write.
Dear Diary,
A new tutor has arrived. I am not sure what to make of him.
All I know is that he is surprisingly young and handsome. It is funny the way his dimples show when he smiles. He appeared so shy and somehow forlorn at the dinner table. Out of place, just like me...
But if he really thinks he could be the one to ʻtameʼ me for Horatioʼs sake, he is erring.
Good Night.
Suddenly feeling rather angry, Sarah slammed the book back on the bedside table, placing it next to a picture of a young brown-haired woman in her twenties, who smiled widely at the beholder and who bore a striking resemblance to Sarah.
Pensively, Sarah looked at the picture for a little while, then she cuddled up in her satin sheets and listened to the wind playing with the leaves of the trees, wishing she was back in her motherʼs arms, the way it had been during her childhood.
Chapter 2 – The First Lesson
Henry was sound asleep when he suddenly heard someone knock at the door to his room.
“What is it...?” he moaned drowsily. For a moment he felt completely disoriented.
The door was opened carefully, and the next moment Roderick peered inside, holding a candelabra.
“Your wake-up call, Mr. Abbott. It is almost seven oʼclock,” the butler said, his voice nothing but an obedient whisper. “I already knocked fifteen minutes ago, but you obviously did not hear me.”
“Thank you for reminding me. You may go now...” Henry mumbled and pulled the blanket over his head.
Roderick bowed and then withdrew quietly. The way the butler moved about the house was so considerate and careful that Henry was sure the man never whirled up the slightest grain of dust with his motions.
Henry granted himself five more minutes of sleep before he finally climbed out of bed, walked over to the window, and opened the curtains. Outside an eerie morning mist was silently creeping through the garden. It wouldnʼt be long until sunrise.
Henry took a carafe of hot water that someone had already placed in front of the door, poured the content into the washbasin, and got ready for the day. He felt dizzy and hoped that nobody would notice that he had a little hangover.
In fact, it had been pretty late when he had gone to bed the night before. Suddenly having become rather chatty, Lord Partridge had forced a hearty ʻman-to-manʼ talk on him which had lasted more than an hour. Apart from that, the lord hadnʼt stopped refilling both their glasses with delicious wine again and again until Henry had felt his head begin to spin. Even Lord Partridge himself had appeared a little bit tipsy in the end.
“I know that young people like you are full of visions and new ideas,” he had said, offering Henry one of his expensive cigars. “Of course, there is nothing that speaks against new ideas. Everyone seems to have them nowadays. So much progress is being made in terms of inventions and discoveries. Would you have thought that one day there would be a vehicle on four wheels just like a coach, but which does not need horses to move and no rails to drive on either? But what I really mean to say is that I would like you to know that at the core our family is a very traditional one—despite the fact that I am in favor of the idea of reforms in certain areas. For instance, I consider myself quite modern in terms of employing a young man like you as a tutor for our daughter. Actually, it would be the task of a governess to look after her. But as you surely know from the common village gossip, the previous governess and the one before her decided to quit. And it seems that these two ladies have made it their mission of life to inform every other governess and tutor in the universe to avoid our house. I can even understand them. Why should they put up with Sarah if they can have a more rewarding position after having undergone intensive training for years...”
Lord Partridge had cast Henry a slightly disparaging sidelong glance, something which Henry had understood as a little dig at him because of his own lack of experience in the field.
“In all seriousness, Mr. Abbott: Sarah is really difficult to handle as she is terribly obstinate and full of crazy ideas,” Lord Partridge had added gravely. “Most of the time, the way she behaves is just not proper for a girl at her age—in fact, it is not proper for any woman at any age at all. She is prone to make a fool of herself and to ultimately become an outcast. She is incredibly clever, but she has managed not to learn anything at all during all those years. She has simply never wanted to. She obviously has decided to remain stupid and uneducated forever. What she aims to achieve with that, I do not know... I am just afraid that she will never ever fit into society. And it is vital to our family that she fits in and that she marries Damian Cox. His father is a colonel in the British Army and a highly influential man. His regiment is currently based in India. Can you imagine what it would mean for Partridge & Co. to have certain connections on the Indian subcontinent? I am sure these people down there can do with some proper ploughs as well.”
Henry had become aware of a certain glow in the lordʼs eyes upon speaking about the alluring prospect of a potential new business project. After all, the lord was the owner of Partridge & Co. Agricultural Engines, a company which manufactured traction engines to run threshing machines and ploughs, based on the recently made invention of agricultural machines which were driven by steam engines, which rendered the previous use of horses unnecessary.
“Britain has almost that whole country under its control by now. And Africa will be next... We need to push this idea forward, need to make the Empire expand and strengthen our influence on other countries so that we can do even more business there. Is it not true, Mr. Abbott?”
Henry had nodded in agreement, but deep inside he had felt more and more uncomfortable hearing Lord Partridge talk so enthusiastically. The thought of Imperialism didnʼt appeal to Henry as much as to everyone else those days. He was more concerned about earning good money to finally make a proper living.
Being the son of a coalminer and therefore looking back on a childhood spent in the working class, Henry was constantly afraid that he could fall right back into the life of poverty and hardship that he was used to. He was also afraid that he could possibly have to work in the mining industry just like his father or that people would label him because of his background.
And so it had become his mission to prove something; namely, that if only one tried hard enough, one could break the pattern. He wanted to prove that despite being part of a certain class by birth, one was
able to alter oneʼs status and change oneʼs destiny. Ultimately, he wanted to demonstrate that one didnʼt have to put up with something that others considered as entirely unchangeable. And somehow, he even believed that he owed this proof to his father who had lived with the deep conviction that one was born a worker and remained a worker forever. Henry had been nineteen when his father died because of a black lung. His death had been devastating for Henry, because he knew his father could have had a different life and wouldnʼt have got so ill if he had not been a worker but a rich man, which would have spared him the fate of having to go after one of the most despised professions at the time.
Knowing that the only key to rise in status was a proper education, Henry had struggled hard to become what he was now: a teacher. It had not been easy to achieve this goal; after all, it wasnʼt common for a minerʼs boy to follow a career like that. But he had managed, driven by the desire to make his dead father proud and driven by the fear of falling back into working class—and because he needed to support his mother, who couldnʼt live on doing the cleaning and knitwork for other people alone. After his fatherʼs death, she had moved from their small shabby family house to an even smaller and shabbier tenement in the outskirts of London; and in order to be able to afford the rent, Henry gave her part of his salary. Not spending a lot of money on himself apart from the occasional haircut, he had saved the rest of his income and led a pretty miserly life in general. But Henry simply never wanted to lack money anymore, just in case that he or someone he loved got seriously ill and would be in need of some kind of treatment.
Henry & Sarah Page 3