Free Spiral Path (Night Calls Series Book 3) by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Cat Kimbriel Page B

thought quite clever. All the walls were vivid, lovely
colors, and the furniture beautifully made, with dark, glossy finishes.
    “ President
Jefferson helped design this house,” my guide told me. “He loves building
things, and his own home is mostly just how he wants it. So he is happy to make
suggestions for his friends, if they want the benefit of his experience.”
    Cousin Esme knows
President Jefferson? I nodded.
    Miss Margaret Rutledge did not show me the Livingston
private areas. However, an open arch lead to the private library, and from the
hallway it was wonderful to see. Sometimes, she told me, students had
permission to borrow those books, or to stay in the private library and read.
    A greenhouse anchored the south end of the building. Both a
large parlor and the entrance hall had unusual things hanging on the walls:
gifts to the Livingstons, or things they had acquired in travel.
    Occasionally we’d see older students moving around in the
main house, but Margaret did not stop to introduce me to any of them. Professor
Livingston had said I was to get the tour, and what my cousin wanted she got.
    “ The
school library is in the south wing; we’ll go there next,” Margaret said. “I
will show you the locations of the necessary rooms; we have several in the
school wing. They are clearly marked for men or women, and we are expected to
honor that convention.” She headed for the stairs, because the first floors
between wings were only open breezeways. Upstairs, the outbuildings were
reached through heavy oak doors that opened easily with a touch of the hand.
    “ Magic?”
I asked her. She looked puzzled, until I said: “Oak is a heavy wood, and these
doors are thick. Yet the doors open so smoothly.”
    “ Oh!
Yes, it’s two kinds of magic—a spell, and also, they are very good doors. They
are beautifully balanced.”
    There was not a lot to see on the second floor. Those halls
contained bedrooms for the younger students. “All the younger children are in
the south wing, with two older students to keep an eye on them. Once a student
reaches thirteen, it’s the north wing for them.
    “In
the north wing, w omen live on the second floor, men on the third. The
doorways are spelled; you cannot go onto the third floor, so do not bother
going up there. Men cannot come on the second floor. Few students remain beyond
their seventeenth year. The men may go on to college, if their families can
give them that luxury.”
    “ And
the women?” I asked, after she’d grown silent.
    “ They
return to their families. Most to marry. Alliances are built that way, you
know. Daughters of wealthy men seek other wealthy men to marry. Or occasionally
a daughter marries into the European nobility.”
    Yes, I knew about such things. I didn’t like them, though.
    The hallways seemed wider on the school side, to allow
students to reach their next classes quickly, or so I guessed. The library was
simply overwhelming. I finally stood and just stared.
    I didn’t know that so many books existed, much less could be
purchased for a small school!
    Margaret did not treat me like a rustic. She seemed pleased
by my response. “It is wonderful, is it not? It is rare that a small school has
such an extensive lending library. The Livingstons value knowledge, and share
it with any who will take care of the books. There are even a few people in New
York who borrow from this library.”
    Well, I thought we were in New York, but I decided not to
ask that question right now. It did set me wondering, though. Was any of this
building someplace else? Not on the same grounds as the house?
    Most of the classrooms did not vary. Long tables had slate
tops for taking fast notes with chalk, and wooden wings that swung up and
across the slate for placing paper and inkwells. Slate stood mounted on stands
or the wall for teachers to write upon. Wardrobes held the instructors’
materials, and several rooms had no chairs or tables at all. Two classrooms