HMS Diamond Read Online Free Page A

ignorant?"
           "If I taught them anything at all—and that is a big if—it would be: obedience, discipline, personal hygiene, maybe a little mathematics for the boys and sewing for the girls. And I would certainly teach them to be deferential to authority and not steal things from their employers— ‘It is a sin to steal a pin’ —that sort of thing." Then softening, somewhat, he went on.
           "Lady Whitney, I understand what you’re saying and I applaud you for your idealism. I yield to no one in my sympathy for the poor. But, surely, you can see that this is not the way to go about helping them."
           Susan was getting madder the more she listened to the man. "I see no such thing," she sniffed.
           Hoping to defuse what was shaping into a tense dialog, the soft voice of an elderly lady at the end of the table interjected.
           "My dear, I have a question. When you say ‘all’ children, do you mean girls as well as boys would learn these things?"
           "Yes, girls as well as boys."
           That brought another round of comment from everyone. Stanhope finally got control by directing a question at a lady who had heretofore remained silent.
           "Mrs. Fletcher, I believe you ran a girl’s school for a number of years, did you not?"
           Mary Fletcher shifted in her chair, cleared her throat and spoke. "I did indeed. I founded it and taught there for over 20 years."
           "Then what do you think of Lady Whitney’s ideas?"
           "At last, some support" Susan thought.
           "With all due deference to Lady Whitney, I think her ideas are preposterous.
           "I certainly think education should be more widely available to girls, and I know our school certainly could have used some additional monies from time to time; but what you teach is more important than who pays for it.
           "At my school we taught the poorer class of girls things they could actually use. We made them fit to be good servants. We got them used to getting up early, working hard and staying clean. They had no access to the frivolities that many children these days seem to spend half their time with.
           "And, we most assuredly did not use books. Instead, we taught them the important lessons of life by using verse:
Patience is a virtue
Virtue is a grace
Both put together
Make a pretty face.
           As I say... we taught them things they could actually use—practical things."
     
    ***
     
           The entire way home the voice of Mary Fletcher kept ringing in her ears.
Patience is a virtue
Virtue is a grace...
           Susan... was... furious!
           When she got home she stormed through the door and up the winding staircase to her room. Her mother, Connie, looked on in alarm and went up to see what was the matter. Tearing off her headband she told her mother about the dinner while angrily brushing her hair.
           When she had finished her mother took the hairbrush from her hand, looked her square in the eyes and said, "You don’t like being ‘Lady Whitney,’ do you?"
           "Mother, it’s not that. I mean this house, the money, seeing you enjoy life again; it’s all wonderful. Like a dream. But..."
           "But?"
           "But that’s the problem. It is like a dream—a dream in which I just don’t fit. The world seemed so much more real back when I was on board ship. It was a world I understood."
           "Do you want to go back to sea again?"
           Susan laughed. "And how could I do that without Sidney and... It would be impossible."
           "You were about to say ‘without Sidney and Lucas Walker’ weren’t you?"
           Susan nodded, looking miserable. To cover her reaction, she reached over to pick up a letter that had been placed on her dressing table. She tore past the seal without noticing who it was from and started