Free A Bloom in Winter by T. J. Brown Page A

throughout her body. No one in her entire life had ever shouted at her. Prudence and Rowena would occasionally get into terrible rows and scream at each other like banshees, but no one had ever, ever raised his voice at her. “I most certainly am. If you would care to sit down, we could look at some other articles I have penned—”
    “I’m not looking at anything. If you are indeed V. Buxton, then you have committed a terrible fraud.”
    “How can I have committed a fraud by being who I say I am?”
    “I expected V. Buxton to be a man. I wanted to buy articles from a man, not from a chit of a girl!”
    “But you did accept and pay me for an article. You can’t denounce the quality of my work and the thoroughness of my research—you thought it was good enough to put in the magazine! I came here today to discuss writing more articles for you, as you yourself requested!”
    “That was when I thought you were a man. And your article will not be appearing in The Botanist’s Quarterly . You can keep the money rendered to you.”
    Her mouth fell open and tears gathered behind her eyes.
    Mr. Herbert cleared his throat. “I will speak plainly, Miss Buxton, if that is indeed your name, so there will be no further doubt. There is no room for women in the sciences, my dear young lady, except perhaps as a help to their husbands. Women just are not suited for such work. Their brains are not made for it. And quite frankly, it will be a cold day before The Botanist’s Quarterly accepts the contributions of a woman over those of a man who may be a husband and a father needing to earn money to take care of his family. I don’t wish to be cruel, but that is the truth.”
    At some point during this speech, the tears she’d tried so hard to hold back overran her efforts and fell down her cheeks. The urge to stomp her feet or throw something was strong, but the days when she could get her way by throwing a fit were long over, and she would just be feeding this man’s low opinion of women if she did so.
    “Do you have any daughters, Mr. Herbert?” she asked him suddenly.
    He looked surprised. “I have one. She is a good girl who stays at home and helps her mother and will do so until she is married.”
    Impatient with herself, she scrubbed at her cheeks with her hands so she could face that despicable man dry-eyed. “I wonder if she would be proud of you today. The way you wouldn’t even discuss a young woman’s writing because she was not the man you expected her to be.” He started to bluster, but she quieted him with a hand. “I was extremely proud of my father, Mr. Herbert. My father would have never done what you did today; he understood that women could be just as passionate about science as a man could be.”
    “Maybe that’s because your father wasn’t a scientist, Miss Buxton. Now, I bid you good day.”
    He turned and Victoria reached for the door. “Oh, but he was a scientist, Mr. Herbert. His name was Sir Philip Buxton and he was not only a noted botanist, but was recognized and knighted for his scientific work. Now I bid you a good day.”
    She swept out of the office with her head high, but that composure only lasted as long as it took for her to pass the receptionist and out the front door. What a fool she was. Had she really believed that just because she had been raised in an atmosphere where women were valued that everyone would feel the same way? Hadn’t Madame Curie herself once discussed the lofty attitude of some of her fellow scientists? But she hadn’t listened. Instead of just writing incognito, she wanted to be acknowledged for her work. What silly pride she had shown. She saw Kit’s car waiting for her and she burst into fresh tears, knowing she would have to share her humiliation and stupidity. She passed the car and heard the door slam moments later.
    “Victoria, what happened? Did he hurt you? Do you want me to challenge him to a duel?”
    “No! Why don’t you just say I told you so?