‘This is not a story book. Sit up and pay attention.’
‘Is reading teaching?’ said Gavin.
‘Yes, when I am going to ask you questions. It is all a part of our work.’
‘But we shall be telling you; not you us.’
‘I hope that is how it will be.’
‘Is teaching work?’ said Honor.
‘Yes, and learning too, when they are both done as they should be.’
‘Will her teaching be done like that?’ said Gavin, to his sister.
‘I hope it will be; I shall do my best,’ said Miss Pilbeam, choosing to use a simple, sincere tone, as she sometimes chose to wear a smile. ‘Now will both of you listen?’
Miss Pilbeam read, while her pupils occupied themselves with the only thing in front of them, the tablecloth. Gavin plaiting the fringe, and Honor drawing out threads and weaving a string. When Eleanor entered, Miss Pilbeam was the only one who continued her employment, and she pursued it as if unaware of interruption, until the visitor spoke.
‘Well, how do you find the new little pupils, Miss Pilbeam?’
Miss Pilbeam raised steady eyes.
‘I hardly know what to expect of them yet.’
‘What lesson are you doing?’
‘We are beginning history.’
‘They have done a good deal of that, I think.’
‘I shall soon find out what stage they are in.’
‘She has to read it out of the book herself,’ muttered Gavin.
‘What did you say, dear?’ said Eleanor. ‘What did he say. Honor?’
‘He said Miss Pilbeam was reading from the book. We are to answer questions afterwards.’
Miss Pilbeam glanced from one of her pupils to the other, without raising her eyes. She was perhaps the first to begin to make progress.
‘That is a good way of using the book,’ said Eleanor. ‘I will come in another day to hear how they acquit themselves. How is your father, Miss Pilbeam? He must miss your mother very much.’
‘Yes, he does. He is in better spirits, but he is very dependent upon me.’
‘You are a useful person in two households. I hope this little woman will grow up to be like you.’
Honor looked surprised.
‘Don’t ycu hope you will, dear? You would like her to, wouldn’t you Gavin?’
‘No, I don’t think so. If people are useful, it is only nice for other people, and not for them.’
‘She is safe with her brother, isn’t she, Miss Pilbeam?’ said Eleanor, smiling as she left the room, and unconscious of any implication upon Miss Pilbeam’s lot.
‘Has your mother gone away?’ said Gavin.
‘She is dead. She died over a year ago.’
Gavin and Honor looked at each other and broke into awkward mirth.
‘Then why don’t you wear black?’ said Honor, as if this excused their outbreak.
‘I have just gone out of it.’
‘Then you don’t mind any more.’
‘Of course I do. Clothes do not make any difference.’
‘Then why do people wear black? Isn’t it to show that they mind?’
‘It is just a custom.’
‘Does your father wear black?’ said Gavin.
‘He wears a black band on his arm. That is what men do.’
‘Then he minds more than you do?’
‘Yes, I am afraid he minds even more than that.’
‘Would he rather you had died?’
‘Yes, perhaps he would.’
‘I should hate anyone who wanted me to die,’ said Honor.
‘Is he glad you have stopped minding?’ said Gavin.
‘You know I have not stopped. Now we will go on with the lesson. I hope I shall not have to tell your mother that you are inattentive.’
Honor and Gavin shared the hope to the point of allowing the lesson to proceed to its end. Then Gavin resumed the talk.
‘What is your father, Miss Pilbeam?’
‘He is a veterinary surgeon.’
‘What kind of a surgeon is that? An ophthalmic surgeon is one who cures people’s eyes.’
‘Yes. A veterinary surgeon is one who cures animals.’
‘Animals? Just horses and cows?’
‘All kinds. Hunters and hounds and everything,’ said Miss Pilbeam, carrying the subject into its higher sphere.
‘Then your father is not a real doctor?’
‘He is something different and something the same as well,’ said Miss Pilbeam, in a tone of throwing full light on her pupils’ minds.
‘Then he is not a gentleman?’
‘He is an educated man. He passed very hard examinations.’
‘As hard as those for people like Daniel and Graham?’
‘Yes, I should think nearly as hard.’
‘But he doesn’t earn enough for you not to be a governess.’
‘He likes me to do something useful.’
‘But teaching isn’t useful unless you know enough to teach.’
‘I know enough to teach you.’
‘But you had to read the history out of a book. You didn’t know it in your head.’
‘I could not make a second book, could I?’
Honor broke into laughter.
‘You will soon cease to expect duplicates in this house,’ she said.
Miss Pilbeam looked at her in silence.
‘Then we can answer out of the book,’ pursued Gavin.
‘We will see what your mother says.’
‘We do sums now,’ said Honor, recognizing the end of the matter.
‘Give me the arithmetic book.’
Gavin handed it with a look at his sister, and a snake wriggled out over Miss Pilbeam’s hands.
‘What a babyish toy to play with!’ she exclaimed, as she realized its nature, and her pupils’ faces showed the fulfilment of their hopes.
‘It is Nevill’s,’ said Gavin, in explanation. ‘I just put it inside the book. I thought that, as your father was a surgeon of animals, you might like it.’
Miss Pilbeam laughed before she knew, and general mirth ensued.
‘It is a realistic object,’ said Honor.
‘Yes, it is very simple,’ said Miss Pilbeam. ‘Now take down this sum.’
‘We always have our sums put down for us.’
‘And I don’t do the same as Honor,’ said Gavin. ‘She has harder ones. Farther on in the book.’
‘Well, show me the ones you do have.’
Honor did so, and Miss Pilbeam dictated the examples, and worked Honor’s herself, to be ready with her aid. Honor soon gave the correct answer.
‘Let me see your book.’
Honor tossed it forward.
‘Yes, that is good. You have been very quick. How about you, Gavin?’
‘I only do one sum. Honor does three.’
‘And there are only eleven months between you. You must catch up, Gavin. Do you ever help him, Honor?’
‘No, I don’t teach people,’ said Honor, implying a difference between her experience and Miss Pilbeam’s.
‘She is a year older than me,’ said Gavin. ‘Her birthday is on the second of July, and mine is on the last day in June. It is a year all but two days.’
‘I think you must be better at mathematics than you seem,’ said Miss Pilbeam, smiling.
‘We are the same age for two days,’ said Honor, hardly doing herself the same justice. ‘This sum is wrong, but I see where. I always find my own mistakes.’
‘You are good at arithmetic,’ said Miss Pilbeam.
‘Better than you are, isn’t she?’ said Gavin.
‘I think she is for her age.’
‘She is apart from that. You have not done the first sum yet.’
‘I have not been trying. I saw she did not need my help.’
‘You seemed to be trying.’
‘Appearances are deceitful,’ said Miss Pilbeam, with a pleasant note that was only fair on appearances, as she had this point in common with them. ‘I shall expect Honor to get on very fast. I can always prepare the lesson, if necessary.’
‘You will have to do that at home, and your father will know that you can’t do Honor’s sums.’