The Traveling Teacher

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Taylor nodded. “I’ll make sure to steer clear of her. Do the boys like her?”

  “The boys are the reason she’s not here more often. She’s not one to like having food dropped on her head from up above. When she got wise and quit coming so close to the house, the boys started climbing trees . . .”

  Taylor bit back a laugh, already hating this Jane person. She was glad she had an ally in Maude, though. She knew she would need her as the days went by.

  Two

  Taylor spent the rest of the day wandering around the gardens and exploring the house. She had an idea of how she would start the next day, so she wasn’t going to worry more about that.

  Instead, she wandered down by a stream that cut through the property in a heavily wooded area. She took off her boots and socks, and she stuck her feet in the water. She knew anyone seeing her would be appalled that a young lady would do such a thing, but she was sure no one would see her there.

  “Ahoy there!” a deep voice called.

  Taylor closed her eyes, wishing she had resisted the urge to stick her feet in the water, no matter how much the nineteenth century footwear was hurting her feet. “Hello!”

  Lord Twigg came to squat beside her beside the stream. “Do you often discard your shoes and stockings to put your feet in water?”

  “Only when my feet are blistered.” She turned her foot and showed him the blister on one of her heels. “The other is just as bad. I hope you don’t mind.”

  He smiled. “Not at all. I think you should have the right to soak your feet when they hurt.” He stared straight ahead, wondering how to get the woman to talk about herself. All he knew at the moment was that she was going to teach his boys. “Where is that accent of yours from?”

  Taylor smiled ruefully. “New York.”

  “Ahh. You’re a yank. I should have guessed as much.”

  “Why?” she asked, wondering what more than her accent had given her away.

  “Well, not many of the English lasses I know would take off their shoes where they could be seen by just anyone. I have always imagined that Americans were more . . . well, free with their actions. Not as structured.”

  Taylor thought about his words for a moment and nodded, deciding to take them as a compliment. “I can agree with that. It’s very true. We’re not nearly as rigid in America as you are here in England.”

  “Well, I don’t believe I used the word rigid now.” He grinned over at her, looking at her fully for the first time since he’d joined her. “How did you come to be here on my property?”

  Her mind raced as she tried to come up with a plausible explanation. Finally, she decided on the truth. “I made a wish, and I ended up here.”

  He laughed, the sound deep and full of amusement. “Is that so?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I live in Manhattan in the year 2019. I wished to come back in time, and here I am!” She spread her arms wide while balancing as precariously as she could there on the bank of the stream.

  “Well, I should like to hear about the world in 2019, then. Is there still war?”

  Taylor sighed. “The sad thing about our world is that the more advanced we become in weapons, the more hate that seems to fill us. Men think war has advanced because now we can kill millions of people all at once.”

  Harry grew serious, shaking his head. “If that’s the case, then the world is a sad place indeed. Are the colonies still at war with England in your time?”

  “Not at all. England and the United States are allies. Strong allies actually. The US helped England and France in both world wars.”

  “Both world wars?” He shook his head. “I don’t think I want to hear any more of what you think the future holds. Not if England and France are allies and there have been world wars.” He got to his feet. “I was just visiting one of the farmers who works my land. He has a lung sickness, so I try to go see him on Sundays.”

  “What kind of lung sickness?” Taylor asked.

  “He has smoked a pipe for many years, and he now coughs up blood. The physician says he only has a short time left.”

  Taylor bowed her head. “We call that cancer. Lung cancer. There is still no cure in my time.”

  He shook his head. “What good is the future, then? If it can’t eradicate a simple disease?”

  “The different cancers are still confounding doctors. There are so many different forms, and people are tested for many of them on a regular basis. If they’re caught early, they can sometimes be cured.”

  “That is very sad. Mankind can kill millions of people at once and not heal a simple lung sickness? I don’t think that’s a world I want to be part of. Keep your future dreams to yourself.” With that he stalked away, seeming to be angry with her.

  Taylor sighed and pulled her feet from the water, her simple way of feeling better gone with his words. She put her socks and shoes back on, wincing at the unforgiving leather of the shoes. Then she stood and walked back toward the estate. She had wanted to start the boys with a walk around the grounds, where she talked to them and got to know them better. She wondered if anyone would notice if she wore her slippers that were meant for ballroom dancing?

  When she got back to the house, she went to her room and removed her shoes, putting the dancing slippers onto her feet. She wondered briefly what time supper was and if she was to take the meal with the servants or the family. Or would she take it alone? She knew that each household was different. She slipped down the back stairs to talk to Maude, asking her the questions.

  “Miss, you have to quit coming into the kitchen. The master prefers that all of his sons’ governesses eat with him and the boys at six.”

  Taylor started to reach for her cellphone for the time, but she caught herself just in time. “How long until then? I didn’t notice a clock.”

  “About fifteen minutes. You should go upstairs and put your hair to rights.”

  Taylor reached up to her hair and felt several of tendrils of hair falling. It hadn’t looked that way when she’d left the twenty-first century. It was a good thing she’d practiced hairdos. “Thank you, Maude!”

  “You’re welcome!”

  Taylor hurried back upstairs and fixed her hair. She was glad she’d thought to bring a hand mirror with her, because the small mirror in her room was hard to see anything in.

  When her hair was back as it should be, she walked over to the boys’ room and knocked. “Are you ready for supper?”

  The boys came out, looking at her as if she’d grown two heads. She wanted to look to see if her hair was falling again, but she couldn’t do that in front of the boys. “Is something wrong?”

  “None of the other governesses thought we should eat with Father,” James told her. “Why do you?”

  “It’s not my place to decide how your family’s traditions should be. It’s just my place to follow those traditions. Shall we go to supper?”

  Henry frowned at her. “I don’t want to like you.”

  Taylor laughed. “And why not?”

  “Because you’re pretty.” Henry walked away from her with those words, and Taylor was left to wonder what on earth he was talking about. The boy was odd, and that’s all there was to it. She’d figure him out, though. She’d made it her mission.

  James hurried after his brother, and Taylor hobbled along behind them. Even with the slippers, her heels were being rubbed, and they hurt. She’d have to put Band-Aids on them later when no one was around.

  When she arrived in the dining room, Lord Twigg was standing behind his chair, ready to be seated, and each of the boys were behind their own chairs.

  “Where would you like me to sit, my lord?” she asked softly. He nodded to a chair beside James, and she sat there immediately. As soon as she was seated, the three males took their seats as well.

  “I trust that you’re finding everything comfortable?” Harry said to her.

  Taylor nodded. “My room is lovely. I can’t wait until I can start spending more time with the boys tom
orrow.”

  Henry scowled at her, but James just looked at her curiously. “Why do you pretend to like us?”

  She smiled. “I’m not pretending. I believe children are very likable. I taught a whole classroom full of pupils back in New York.” She didn’t mention that she taught five classrooms full of pupils in a day. That would be too much for the boys to comprehend. Modern high school was not something they would ever need to know about.

  Harry watched her with a look of interest on his face. The food was brought in by two servants, who set it on the table and allowed them to serve themselves. “I only go to London when the parliament is in session, and I stay for as little time as I can. I hope you’re not wanting to spend a lot of time in the capital.”

  Taylor shook her head. “No, I’m happy rusticating in the country.” She was actually thrilled she’d ended up in the countryside of England and not in the middle of the season. Each person seemed to write the rules about the season a little differently, and she was never sure if she was getting it right or not.

  “You’re a very odd woman,” Harry told her as he bit into his roast beef.

  While they ate, the boys talked to their father of the things they’d seen as they’d played outside that day. When they hadn’t been with their father, a maid had followed them around, and they had apparently tormented the young woman.

  But they’d been interested in the different birds they’d seen and in the plants that grew. They’d been interested in which types of fish were in the stream. Taylor knew she didn’t have the answers to all of their questions about nature, but as she’d explored the house, she’d found a large library. Hopefully she could answer some of their questions with the books she’d found in it. She knew she’d put a couple of books about the wildlife of England on her Kindle, and she would look at that later. Hopefully no one would notice if her solar charger sat on her window ledge. The charger would need to be charged if she wanted her Kindle.

  As she was thinking about these things, she realized every eye at the table was on her. What had happened? “Pardon me. I was woolgathering. Did you ask me something?”

  Harry shook his head with a little laugh. “I was wondering if the native birds here were much different than those in New York.”

  “To be honest, I don’t know,” Taylor answered. “That’s not something I’ve spent a lot of time studying.”

  “Well, you’ll have to be more observant. The boys would be interested in learning more.” Harry put his fork down on his plate, obviously finished.

  “I’ll see what I can remember. Do you mind if I make use of your library?”

  “Not at all. I’m sure you’ll need books for the boys. Neither of them are reading yet.”

  “Thank you. I’d like to borrow books that interest me as well, if you don’t mind.”

  “My library is your library.” Harry got to his feet. “Go to bed, boys. I’m going to have a short chat with your governess, and I’ll see you for breakfast in the morning.”

  Taylor wondered if he already wanted to fire her. She shouldn’t have talked to him about the future earlier, but he’d asked some questions that had made her feel like he really wanted to know about her. She placed her fork on her plate. “Where would you like to speak?”

  “In my study.” Harry led the way through the house, down a dark hall, and to a room with a huge desk that took up most of the room. “In here, please.”

  She sat down on the chair that faced his desk while he took the chair behind it. “I hope I haven’t done anything to upset you.”

  “No, of course not. I’d just like to ask you to keep your stories of the future away from my boys. They aren’t used to having anyone spin tales the way you do, and it would be best if it stayed that way.”

  Taylor nodded. “I’m sorry I said what I said to you earlier. I won’t mention the future again.”

  “But you really do think you’re from the future, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I really do. I could prove it if you wanted proof.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning on them onto his desk. “Is that so?”

  The smug look on his face made her want to do something to wipe it away, so she dug into the bosom of her dress, wondering when on earth people would realize that women needed something as simple as a pocket, and pulled out her cellphone. She opened it to her game of spite and malice and handed it to him.

  He stared at it for a minute. “What is this?”

  “It’s a telephone. In my century everyone carries one, and you can talk to people who are at a distance by dialing in the number that is theirs. You can also play games and look up just about any kind of information. I’m limited in my information here, but I used it to look up information often when I was in New York.”

  “I have a hard time believing you.” He turned the phone over in his hand. “Show me how to use it.”

  She explained the game in front of him and showed him how to play by swiping his finger on the screen. For a moment he looked absolutely thrilled, but then he handed the phone back to her. “I do not know where you found this object, but I do not need to fritter my time away with it. If I have time away from work, I need to be spending it with my boys.”

  “Very well.” Taylor tucked the phone back into her cleavage. “Was there anything else you needed from me?”

  “Are you married in your time? Or affianced?” He wasn’t sure why he was letting her think she wasn’t insane, when she obviously was.

  “I’m not. I’m a teacher in my time, and I teach older children about the English language. I teach them to write well so they can attend universities.” It was really hard to describe the American public school system to a man who lived two centuries before her.

  “Ahh. You work in a school like Eton.”

  “No, the school I worked in has boys and girls, and they are treated equally. Eton is just a school for boys with wealthy parents. At my school anyone can be a student, no matter their gender or economic status. It’s better.”

  “Why is it better? Why teach someone to read when they are destined to spend their lives mopping floors? It seems to me that you’re showing them something they could have and then snatching it away from them.”

  Taylor shook her head. “Not at all. We are teaching them that they can be anything they want to be. And if a child is born the daughter of a maid, she can grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer or do anything else she wants to do. And even if she chooses to mop floors for a living, she will have the ability to read and write and escape from her life through books.”

  “That doesn’t sound like it could ever be true.” He got to his feet, walking close to her. “Remember, no future talk with my boys tomorrow. Just teach them the things they need to know.”

  “I’ll do just as you say. I will probably stop at your library on the way up to my room. I’d like to have some new reading material, and I think the boys would like it if I could concentrate on the sciences.” She got to her feet and nodded to him. “Goodnight, Lord Twigg.”

  “Goodnight, Miss Bally.” As Harry watched her go, he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d become who she was. She was obviously very educated, and he wondered who had taught her. It was strange, but he found himself very attracted to her. If only she would tell him the truth about who she was.

  Taylor went into the library and found some books on the wildlife of England. She knew she would have to learn as much as she could as quickly as she could. The boys were interested in things that she didn’t excel at. They were interested in things she didn’t even care about. She would apparently need to learn to care.

  She took the book up to her room and changed into a nightgown. She hoped no one ever saw her in it, because she wasn’t sure it was right for the era. Either way, it would have to do for now.

  She sank onto her bed and flipped through the book until her eyelids started to droop. She carefully set the book on the floor, and she blew out the candle. Sleep was necessary if she h
ad to be up early to deal with two young boys. She’d have to be on her toes, and her toes hurt. She’d find a way to get through to them, though. She always did.

  Long after the light was gone, she lay awake, wondering what was going to happen to her. Harry certainly didn’t seem interested in her. Hopefully Dr. Lachele hadn’t sent her so far back in time so she could teach two boys. She was sure the woman was a better wish granter than that.

  Three

  Taylor woke early the following morning, dressing in one of her more casual dresses. She no longer cared if Lord Twigg realized she was really from the future, because she’d done her best to show him she was the night before.

  Walking into the nursery, she found both boys sitting there with grumpy looks on their faces. “I didn’t expect the two of you to be here before breakfast.”

  James glared at her. “Father makes us go to breakfast with the governess.”

  “You mean you’re not allowed to walk down without me?”

  Henry shook his head angrily. “Let’s go eat.”

  “If I ever sleep too late again, just knock on my door.” She couldn’t imagine that she’d slept too late that day, but maybe the boys liked to eat really early. She had no idea what their usual schedule was.

  “I will,” James said, leading the other two out of the room and down the long staircase that was right in front of the main door to the home.

  When they reached the breakfast table, it looked as if Lord Twigg had just arrived. “Good morning boys. Miss Bally.”

  “Good morning!” Taylor said with a smile, wondering how long this ruse would have to go on. When was Harry going to declare undying love for her? She was ready.

  Just as they were all sitting down for breakfast, someone hurried into the room. She definitely looked to be part of the local gentry. “Hello. New governess? I hope she does better than the last four.” The girl sat down at the table, looking over at Taylor. “Be a dear and run to the kitchen and tell them we need another place setting.”