"Ah oui, Miss Howe. Definitely right out of ze bog. Are we not trèes fortunate to have her here?" But our Miss de Lise is not purring—her face is dark, and if looks could kill, I'd already be sewn up in my canvas with the words said over me and my poor body dumped over the side.
Clarissa comes up to me, nose to nose, so close I can feel her breath on my face. All traces of her false smile are gone and her perfect mouth turns down at the corners and her upper lip curls up and shows a row of perfect but curiously small teeth. She says, barely above a whisper, "If you are threatening me with physical violence, you would be well advised that if you as much as lay a finger upon my person, you will be taken out and whipped and expelled from this school, a school to which, I might add, you so obviously do not belong."
It is to my shame that I can't think of nothin' to answer her back. I only watch as the two of them whirl around and walk out of the room, leaving me to follow behind. I got off a couple of shots across their bows, but I got a lot to learn about fighting like a lady.
After I spend the rest of the hour studying place settings till my eyes cross, the class finally ends and we go into yet another room that has many comfortable chairs and low tables and I flop down in a chair next to Amy. We are to be served tea and sweet tarts.
Well, this ain't so bad, I thinks, dispatching a sweet cake in two bites before I thinks to watch Amy. I brush the crumbs off my lap and look about.
The girls are in small groups and one of the ladies, whose name is Elizabeth, is pouring the tea to some and directing the serving girl Betsey to pour for the others. I ciphers it out that the girls take turns being the hostess, like she was in her own house, and Mistress over there is watching her like a hawk. Looks like you're always onstage here.
Elizabeth comes over to the group next to us and she's chattering gaily, but I can tell she's sweatin' blood. I got to be specially watchful that this Elizabeth don't dump a pot of tea on my new clothes to teach me my place, as if I don't know my place already, so when she comes up to me to pour me a cup, I got my napkin on my lap and I'm ready to spring up and out of the way if I see some unwanted liquid comin' my way. Ain't nobody gonna mess with this dress, by God.
But she don't. She's as nice as pie and we swap false smiles and then I take my tea and load it up with sugar and slide it down my throat. It's good and gives me the strength to ask of Amy, "What's next?"
"Now we have Free Study, which means we can work on what we like until supper. I plan to read. You can work on your embroidery, your French, your—"
"Letter writing?" I ask.
"Yes. That, too."
The tea being over and Mistress having left, I rush up the stairs and rip open my seabag and whip out Jaimy's letter.
James Emerson Fletcher
Number 9 Brattle Lane
London, England
August 29, 1803
Miss Jacky Faber
The Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls
Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
My Dearest Jacky,
By the time you read this letter you will be put ashore and I will be making preparations for getting under way, if not already at sea. It saddens my already lonely heart to think that the distance between us will grow, day by day, ever more vast. I am heartened, however, and will take great comfort in remembering the words of love you so recently and ardently expressed to me. That you should love me is the finest gift I have ever been given, or will ever yet receive.
The other midshipmen have wholeheartedly welcomed me into their company and they are all thoroughly decent fellows and I know that they all hold you in the highest esteem—Jenkins, especially, for your help in confronting the vile Bliffil—and how the midshipmen's berth exults in the bully's disgrace and absence!
Today, we all went into the town to have one last day ashore, but I could take no joy in my liberty, knowing as I did that you were cruelly confined in that miserable brig for the crime of merely being a girl. So later, as the other lads were holding forth in a tavern, I wandered off alone and walked through the town and into the meadow they call the Common.
Boston is a curiously small town for all its reputation—hardly twenty-five thousand souls, I am told. It is hard to believe that this small city could rise up and stand alone in open rebellion to Britannia in all her power and might. Not that I approve, mind you, but still you must admire the audacity of it all.
Presently, I crossed the Common and stood in front of the school you will be attending. I believe you will find it a pleasant place, Jacky, with large, well-shaped trees all about, and neat, well-tended grounds. There is a church next to the school, and it is my hope that you will find comfort and solace there in times of need.
I stood there gazing at the school for a long time. Tomorrow the Dolphin shall leave Boston, heavy laden with treasure, but depend upon it, Jacky, when the ship leaves the harbor, my eyes will be fixed on this house upon this hill, for I will know where my true treasure lies.
Please write to me, Jacky, at the above address. I shall count the days till I receive your first letter, having now only this lock of your hair, bound up in a ribbon, to remind me of you.
I remain, and will always remain
Your most obedient & devoted servant,
Jaimy
I fling myself across my bed and stuff my pillow against my face so the others can't hear me cryin'. After I subsides a bit, I rise and refold Jaimy's letter, and I put it back in my bag. I know that I will read and reread this letter till the edges fray and the ink blurs and the very letter itself falls apart in my hands. I know that.
I go into the privy to splash some water on my face and then I go back downstairs to find pen and paper to begin my letter to Jaimy.
Jacky Faber
The Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls
Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
August 30, 1803
James Emerson Fletcher, Midshipman
9 Brattle Lane, London, England
Dear Jaimy,
I dont know nothing about writing letters, Jaimy, this being the first one I ever wrote and I dont know how to do it so I am just going to plunge ahead and hope you will forgive me when I make a mess of it which I will.
I dont know if I like it here, Jaimy, I dont know at all. Tilly and the Captain and Deacon Dunne all put out their reasons for what they were going to do with me, but I still dont get it. Why couldnt they have put me off in London? They could have kept me in the brig for the crossing, I wouldna minded. I wouldna caused no trouble just cause I was a girl. In London I woulda at least had a chance to see you or could at least known I was in the same town as you, but no ... You dont know this, Jaimy, but when the Dolphin was warped out of the harbor today with you on it and me not, I could see it from a window at the school, it being up on a hill and I could see the harbor all spread out below and the ship with all its flags flying and guns saluting and looking so glorious that it fairly tore my heart out, it did.