An Indelicate Situation (The Weymouth Trilogy) Read Online Free

many girls all at the same time – it was most difficult. I was hoping, I think, to be able to have – well, perhaps more of an effect upon my pupils – to gain more of a sense of achievement through seeing them grow and develop . But it did not quite work out that way. They learned very little, I fear, for rather than actually teaching them, for most of the time I found that I was merely attempting to manage their behaviour. So I thought that I should leave the classroom and work more individually with my pupils – help them to gain in confidence and understanding , enable them to learn. Well, that w as the intention at any rate,’ with a wry smile . ‘But now that I am here I am not perfec tly convinced that I made the right decision. There doesn ’ t appear to be anything much to choose between the two types of employment after all .’
    M aggie had been feeling quite comfortable since the arrival of Mrs Berkeley at her side, the more so as the object which generally made her feel most uncomfortable , albeit in an oddly exciting and desirable sort of a way , had not yet appeared in the drawing room. However, just as her conversation with Mrs Berkeley lapsed into companionable silence for a moment , the perpetrator of this discomfort suddenly appeared in the doorway and immediately made her blush. The blush intensified most annoyingly as she watched him st ride into the room and look around it. His eyes found her s in a moment and she was rewarded by a very slight smile as he headed towards the coffee and helped himself to his cup .
    ‘Mr William Wright bears a strong resemblance to his brother, do you not think, Miss Owens?’ suggested Mrs Berkeley, following his progress across the room in much t he same way as Maggie had done albeit, most probably, with sensations which were very different from her own . ‘Their hair is of quite the same hue, I should say, and their mannerisms – the way in which they present themselves – I should have known that they were brothers even had they not been introduced to me as such.’
    Maggie looked across at Captain Wright . She could see the point about the mannerisms. Both he and William were bluff, hearty individuals with easy manners and a ready laugh , with a tendency to crinkle their eyes immediately before they spoke . Both looked smart and elegant in their evening attire – Mr William in a black tailcoat and black Florentine breeches, Captain Wright in a dark blue cutaway coat with light cream breeches and waistcoat . And despite Captain Wright being more than eight years William’s junior she felt that they looked very much of an age. Of course, Captain Wright had already spent many years at sea. The hard life of a sailor , the responsibility, exposure to the weather – all these things had taken their toll and whilst still a relatively young man, and not at all bad looking, Maggie could not help but consider that, overall, Mr William was much the more attractive of the two.
    ‘Yes,’ she said, her comparisons over. ‘ There is certainly a similarity between them. It is the same with your husband and his sister , if I may say so, ma’am . I consider them to look very much alike. And yet Will and Augusta are quite different from their brother Perry, and Amelia is different again. The twins, I think, take after their mother and Perry ta kes after his papa. I am not yet sure about little Georgia. It is perhaps too early to say whom she most closely favours – she is only fifteen months old after all . It is strange how some children take after one or other of their parents and yet others bear no resemblance to either of them at all.’
    ‘Our three are all quite different, too. Kate, I think, has something of my look about her while Andy most certainly favours his papa – blond and sturdy and full of fun . He is an absolute joy. And then there is Rob . L ittle Rob is perhaps more of a mixture. He is quite a serious child, quite staid, very set in his ways ,