"Dear Cousin Phineas," she says. She does not look at me. She does not smile at either of us. "How good to see you again." She extends her hand and touches the outstretched hand of the Professor for the briefest of moments.
"Yes. Harrumph," says the Professor, reddening. "Good to see you, too, Miranda. May I present Miss Jacky Faber, the girl you have so graciously taken on as a new student? Jacky, this is Mistress Pimm."
She slowly turns her head and brings her gaze to bear upon me cowering down below.
What am I 'posed to do? Oh Lord, Tilly, you should've thought to teach me what to do in things like this. I don't know, should I hit a brace and snap off a salute and case my eyes or should I knuckle my brow and look down all humble or should I...
The serving girl standing behind Mistress Pimm sees me in all my confusion and she takes a bit of her skirt in each hand and moves one foot behind the other and dips down, spreading out her skirt with her hands as she looks down at the floor and then rises back up and brings her eyes back to mine and nods at me and silently mouths, Do it.
I do it, or at least I tries, and I almost falls over sideways when I squats down but I don't, and I comes back up and puts my eyes on her brooch 'cause I don't want to meet her steely eyes and I says, "Pleased to meetcha, Mum."
Tilly sighs and says, "She's going to take a bit of work, I'm afraid. But she is a good boy ... ah ... girl, that is, and she is a willing worker and a quick study and she..."
Mistress looks me over. "I am sure she will prosper here," she says, finally, but she is not smiling and she don't sound like she believes it. I don't believe it, neither, not right now I don't.
She looks back at Tilly. "I believe our business is concluded, then. I bid you good day, Cousin Phineas." The serving girl goes to open the door for him.
"Right. Well, then," says Tilly to me, "you be a good girl, now."
"I will be, Sir, and I thank you for your kindness to me and the other boys. You were just the best teacher."
Tilly blinks and nods and is out the door and gone.
The door clicks shut and silence fills the room. I stand there nervously quiverin' while Mistress Pimm looks me over.
"What is this, then?" she says sharply, reaching over and flicking her finger at my earring. I flinch back cause her fingernail caught my ear and it shocked me, the suddenness of it all.
"It's ... it's ... just me ring, Ma'am. It's like a token from me intended husband, a weddin' ring, like. We're gonna use 'em when we finally gets married and..."
"Take it off. Take it off, now."
"I can't take it off, Mum," I says. "It's welded shut and please, Mum, I..."
From somewhere in her dress she pulls out a thin rod, whips it back, and lays it against my leg. Even under the layers of cloth, my leg buckles under the pain. Damn, that hurts!
"Listen to me, girl. The Rules: You will never call me anything but Mistress, not Mum, not Ma'am, nothing but Mistress," she says, standing straight upright as if a steel rod was run up her back. "And you will never talk back to me or raise your voice or even think to contradict me. Do you understand me, Miss Faber?"
"Yes, Mistress, I do." I sobs, blinking back tears for me poor leg. "I do."
"Good," she says, straightening up and turning to the serving girl. "You. Go get Mr. Dobbs."
"Yes, Mistress," whispers the girl and darts out the door.
"And tell him to bring his snips!" Mistress calls after the girl.
While we wait for this Mr. Dobbs and his snips, Mistress continues to gaze upon me. She shakes her head and paces about the room. "I have grave misgivings about this. Unseemly. Most unseemly."
The girl returns shortly with a dusty little man in work clothes bearing a look of put-upon impatience and carrying an evil-looking pair of sharp pliers.
"What is it, then, Mistress Pimm?" he says, with the air of one who anticipates a long, disagreeable, dirty, and thankless job.
"Take that barbaric thing out of her ear right now."
Mr. Dobbs squints at my earring and lifts his pinchy tool. He seems delighted that it is such a simple thing and soon he'll be back in the hole where I'm sure he hides himself the livelong day. "Sure thing, Mistress. We'll have that out in half a moment."
He lays his cold, vile snips against my cheek and peers at the offending ear and its ornament. I jerk back.
"Please, Mistress, it's such a small thing and I..."
The switch catches me on the leg again and I cries out, "Oh! Please don't..."
"What did I tell you about talking back to me?" she says to me and "Cut it out of there!" to Dobbs.
"Pardon, Mistress," says the vile Dobbs, scratching his bristly chin as he thinks about the job at hand, "but do ye wish me to cut the earring or the earlobe?" He opens his shears and puts my ear in its cruel mouth. I can feel the sharpness of the metal. "Earlobe'd be easier. Bit of a mess, though."
She seems to consider the two ways of freeing the ring from my poor quiverin' ear.
"Cut the ring," she says finally.
I'm sorry, Jaimy, I promised I'd never take your ring out of my ear but there it goes I'm sorry, Jaimy, I'm sorry.
Dobbs cuts the hoop and, none too gentle, twists the ring out of my ear and hands it to Mistress.
"Very well, Dobbs, you may take Miss Faber's things up to the dormitory. And you," she says to the serving girl, "may resume your duties." The girl bobs and leaves, and Dobbs lifts my seabag and chest and heads down the hallway.
"You will now follow me to my office."
We enter a hallway and proceed down its length. There's more of them 'broideries on both walls. On either side I see rooms that are prolly rooms where stuff is taught. There's a room with a lot of little tables, and there—oh, my—there's a room full of musical instruments, fiddles and harps and things. This could be all right, I think.
"This floor is classrooms and the dining hall. Upstairs is the living quarters. Downstairs is the kitchen and the household staff," she says, and with that she sweeps into a room and I follow.
It is a dark room with heavy curtains pulled over the windows. It has a large desk with a chair in the middle of it and cabinets along the side. Mistress Pimm goes over to a window and reaches behind the curtain and pulls a cord. The drapes part and light spills into the room and I can see the harbor lying down there below. How I wish I was down there with Jaimy, or even just sitting on a pier and playing my pennywhistle. Or gutting fish. Or doing anything but this.
Mistress comes back to the desk and sits down in her chair.
"Do you see the line drawn on the carpet?"
I look down and see that, sure enough, there is a thin white line drawn on the rug in front of her desk.
"Yes, Mistress," I say.
"Good. Now go up to it and put the points of your toes upon it."
I step over and put the shiny toes of my new shoes on the line. This puts my belly about four inches from the edge of the desk.
"Very well," she says and leans back in her chair. "Whenever you are called into this office, you will advance to that line. If you are here for punishment—and I cannot think of any other reason why you would be here—you will lay your upper body on the desk and lift up your skirts. Do you understand?"