Which simply meant there was no way Helen could take the time necessary to attend Desirée’s wedding. She could not afford to risk losing her position here. While she knew that being a teacher was not a profession many people would envy, it was all she had, and in her own way she was happy with it. She valued the company and friendship of the other women who worked here; women who, like herself, had been forced to make their own way in the world. And it was certainly a vast improvement from the positions she had held in the past. Better to be a schoolmistress in a country school than a governess in a fine house where one lived in constant fear of being caught alone by the master.
‘Helen, Helen, come quickly. Mrs Guarding is looking for you!’
Helen looked up to see Jane Emerson hurrying across the grass towards her. Jane was a pretty little thing with big brown eyes and dark hair. She taught dance and deportment at Mrs Guarding’s and was well liked by both the staff and the girls. But her appearance in the garden now with the news that Mrs Guarding wanted to see her came as something of a surprise.
‘But why would she wish to see me?’ Helen asked, hastily slipping the letter into her pocket. ‘I have no classes until this afternoon.’
‘Yes, but Miss Gresham and her father are here.’
Helen blinked. ‘Miss Gresham?’
‘One of the new girls.’ Jane stopped for a moment to catch her breath. ‘Mrs Guarding is gathering…everyone in the hall to meet them.’
‘But I thought none of the new girls were due to arrive until the end of the week?’
‘That was what Mrs Guarding told us, but Miss Gresham is here now and we must all take our places. Come, Helen, we had best make haste,’ Jane urged. ‘You know how Mrs Guarding hates to be kept waiting!’
‘I apologise for our early arrival, Mrs Guarding,’ Oliver told the headmistress in the privacy of her sitting-room, ‘but I thought it best that Gillian begin her studies here as soon as possible.’
Mrs Guarding inclined her head. ‘No apology is necessary, Mr Brandon. I have asked my staff to assemble downstairs and it will be only a few moments before they are there. But in the interim, is there anything you would like to tell me about your ward?’
Oliver glanced at the older woman in surprise. ‘Why would you ask?’
‘Because given Gillian’s age, I thought there might have been another reason for your haste in bringing her here.’
‘I’m not sure I take your meaning.’
The headmistress looked at him in the same manner she might have regarded a tardy pupil. ‘Mr Brandon, I am very proud of the reputation I have built here at Guarding’s, but I am well aware that education is not the only reason parents send their daughters away. Especially to a school like this.’
‘Like this?’
‘Yes. One where the main focus is not to prepare young women for marriage.’
As a man accustomed to plain speaking, Oliver appreciated the headmistress’s forthright style. He was also glad he had left Gillian in the corridor beyond. ‘You are quite right, Mrs Guarding. I did have another reason for bringing my stepsister here, and under the circumstances, I see no reason why you should not be made aware of it.’ He paused, took a deep breath, and then laced his hands together behind his back. ‘Gillian has developed an unfortunate tendre for a gentleman of whom I do not approve. I had hoped that by separating them for a while, she might eventually find her affections cooling, and that the gentleman might find another target for his.’
A gleam of understanding appeared in the headmistress’s eyes. ‘Am I to assume that your ward’s inheritance has something to do with the gentleman’s interest?’
‘I believe it has. Because of her wealth, Gillian will be pursued by a great many gentlemen. Some will love her for who she is while others will court her for what she has. I am hoping that when the time comes for her to make a choice, she will have the maturity and good sense to recognise the difference. At the moment, she hasn’t,’ Oliver said flatly. ‘She has been swept away by the romantic ramblings of a handsome officer and believes herself in love with him. That is why I have brought her here.’
‘I see.’
‘It is also why I would like to make a request of you.’
‘And that is?’
‘The gentleman’s name is Sidney Charles Wymington. He’s a dashing fellow to be sure, but I want it made clear that Gillian is to have absolutely nothing to do with him.’
Mrs Guarding’s eyebrows rose in inquiry. ‘Have you reason to believe he would attempt to contact her here?’
‘Regrettably, I have no reason not to believe it,’ Oliver replied without hesitation. ‘Mr Wymington has become rather persistent of late in his attentions. That is why Gillian is not to be allowed contact with any gentlemen who might call for her. She is also not to receive correspondence from anyone other than family members and female friends.’
Mrs Guarding nodded. ‘I will ensure that my staff are made aware of your wishes, Mr Brandon.’
Oliver hesitated, not sure whether he detected a note of censure in the woman’s voice, and even less sure why he should be disturbed by it. ‘It is not my intention to sound like an overbearing parent, Mrs Guarding. Gillian is an amiable child but at times she can be…impulsive.’ He gave the headmistress a rueful smile. ‘She has done an excellent job of winding her tutors and her family around her little finger, and I regret to say she has become accustomed to getting her own way. I simply wish to prevent her from making a terrible mistake.’
The reluctant explanation brought a smile to Mrs Guarding’s face. ‘I understand your dilemma, Mr Brandon. It is an unfortunate truth that all too often young women are guided by their feelings rather than by their good sense, and I would not wish to see your ward come to grief. However, having said that, I must remind you that Miss Gresham is not a prisoner here. I cannot restrict all of her activities nor force her to remain on school property. If she is not to leave the grounds or to venture into the village unescorted, you must be the one to tell her that. I shall then endeavour to enforce your instructions as best I can.’
‘That is only fair,’ Oliver conceded. ‘Gillian is well aware of my feelings regarding Mr Wymington, but as I’ve said, she’s a strong-willed girl used to getting her own way. I am hoping that you and your staff will be able to strengthen and refine certain aspects of her character. I have been assured that moral development and intellectual growth are encouraged here.’ Oliver took a deep breath. ‘I wish her to understand that a young lady in possession of a considerable fortune cannot always be ruled by her heart, since the gentlemen who are courting her seldom are.’
Helen accompanied Jane to the dining-hall and smiled at the other teachers who were gathered there. They were a quiet group of women, made that way by their upbringing as much as by their choice of livelihood. They had all been forced to seek employment as a result of neither having had the good fortune to secure a husband, nor being in the enviable position of not needing one.
Helen had come to the Guarding Academy with a slight advantage over the others in that she had once been a pupil here. But she had never had cause to regret her decision. Even now, as she approached the beginning of her third year, she still enjoyed the opportunity of working with the young women in her care. That was not to say that all the young ladies liked being shown the best way to apply watercolours to a page, or how to conjugate Italian verbs. Indeed, with travel on the Continent so restricted, many of them felt there