A Lady's Dream Come True - Grace Burrowes Page 0,21
lions’ den.
“Do you hear me?”
He nodded.
“Mr. Dorning will be your drawing instructor. He’s also teaching Catherine while he’s here, but I’ve asked that your lessons and hers be separate.”
Alexander looked up, his expression dismayed. “Doesn’t Catherine want to be my sister anymore? She never visits the nursery. She and Miss Diggory are always in Miss Digg’s sitting room, and I’m not allowed in there.”
“You’re not? Who made that rule?” Vera longed to brush her hand over Alexander’s brow, longed to sit him in her lap, even, but six-year-old boys loathed such coddling. Jeremy had been very clear on that subject.
“Mr. Forester says I’m not to leave the nursery without his permission. I will earn my privileges.” That last was recited as if Alexander was quoting somebody.
“You will leave the nursery with Mr. Dorning,” Vera said, hoping that fit with Mr. Dorning’s wishes. “If you’re to learn to sketch landscapes, you can’t do that in the nursery. Besides, it’s summer, and you should be outside from time to time.”
Alexander resumed staring at the floor. “What about Mr. Forester’s rule?”
“Mr. Forester answers to me.”
“He says you tell him what to do.”
Some other question lay within that observation, something Alexander did not want to ask directly. Vera knelt before him, desperate to see his eyes, the better to see into his soul.
“You are struggling with the changes I’ve made here in the nursery,” she said, yielding to the impulse to put her hands on his shoulders. “I know that. You miss Catherine. You miss Mrs. Tansbury and her easy ways. It’s hard now, Alexander, but I am proud of you for trying, and I know you will adjust in time. Please be patient and don’t give up. Mr. Forester says you have the potential to be a very fine young gentleman.”
Alexander stared past her shoulder. “What does that mean?”
“It means your lessons won’t always be so difficult, and one day, you’ll be glad you worked diligently to master your schoolwork.”
“I miss Papa.” He nearly whispered those words, as if afraid of being overheard. Alexander had barely been three when Dirk had died, but he likely did miss his papa, even if he couldn’t recall him very clearly.
“I miss him too. I thank heaven every day that I have you and Catherine to remember him by.” Vera straightened lest she hug her little boy and mortify him past all bearing. “Mr. Dorning will come for you after lunch, and you are to give him your utmost attention.”
“Will he beat me if I’m slow?”
What on earth? “You have a vivid imagination, Alexander. Mr. Dorning is a patient man, and he says he enjoys teaching others about art. I’m sure he’ll have no cause to take up the birch rod.”
Alexander sent a look of dread to the front of the room, where the old leather-handled birch rod had been resting in the corner likely since Dirk’s grandfather had been a lad.
Jeremy must have been indulging in dire threats indeed. “Will you come see me when your lessons are done for today?” Vera asked, straightening. “I’ll want to know how your first drawing session went.”
“I’m not to leave the nursery without Mr. Forester’s—”
“You aren’t to disobey your mama either, Alexander. I miss you. Before you took up scholarship with Mr. Forester, I saw much more of you.” Perhaps she ought not to have said that, because Alexander’s eyes clouded with confusion. When had he become so serious? So literal? She brushed her hand over his hair, still the silky fine tresses of a little boy. “When your lessons are through for the day, I will expect a visit.”
This inspired no smile, no excitement. Alexander remained standing by his desk as if awaiting the headmaster’s inspection of the classroom.
“You may sit, Alexander. I give you permission to sit.”
He shook his head. “I’ll just have to stand again when Mr. Forester comes back. Good day, Mama. Thank you for coming by.”
She was being politely dismissed by a six-year-old boy. Jeremy had told her to expect sulks and pouts, tantrums even, but Alexander wasn’t sulking or pouting, and he certainly wasn’t having a tantrum. He was simply waiting for her to leave.
Vera found Jeremy in the corridor. “Mr. Dorning will come by for Alexander after lunch, and I’d like to see my son at the end of his school day.”
“He’s in a bit of a mood lately, Mrs. Channing. Not exactly on his best behavior.”
Vera was in a bit of mood, and Jeremy’s relentless, faintly damning good cheer wasn’t helping.