Free Daughters of Rebecca by Iris Gower

married she was her husband’s chattel, his to do with as he wished. He could beat her and abuse her, in some cases he could even offer her for sale or exchange if the mood took him. Shanni had believed ill-treatment of that sort happened only to the ‘lower orders’, the women who had no education, who had been subjugated all their lives. From what she read, nothing could be further from the truth.
    The door opened and Flora stood back to allow Madame Isabelle to enter the drawing room. Madame glanced at the piano and then at Shanni, who closed the book marking the page carefully with the piece of ribbon Rosie had bought her at the fair.
    â€˜Have you been practising your scales?’Madame Isabelle asked easily, as the maid closed the door behind her. ‘Or have you been too busy reading?’
    â€˜These books you brought me, they make me so angry!’ Shanni said, keeping her voice low. ‘How can women allow themselves to be treated worse than the cattle in the fields?’
    â€˜It is because many of them lack education, which you are privileged now to receive, thanks to Mrs Mainwaring.’ She looked at Shanni and smiled. ‘I know you won’t forget to whom you owe a debt of gratitude for all you have here.’
    Shanni nodded but she felt she owed as much to Madame as she did to Mrs Mainwaring.
    Madame Isabelle sat at the piano and ran her fingers over the keys. The music swelled softly into the room and Shanni felt her heart lighten with joy. She listened in silence for a while, then Madame Isabelle rose from the stool, twitching her skirts into place. ‘Shall we begin?’
    â€˜Before I start to play for you, may I ask you something?’ Shanni said meekly.
    Madame Isabelle smiled. ‘Yes, indeed. I’m not saying I shall have the answers you want to hear, but ask away.’
    â€˜Was I wrong in believing only working women get shabbily treated by men? From what I’ve just been reading rich ladies have to put up with infidelity, and worse, just like the poor. Aren’t they well enough educated to complain?’
    â€˜Women can be well educated in the niceties of life,’ Madame Isabelle shook her head and her combs threatened to fall loose from her thick hair, ‘but that does not mean they are educatedrealistically or politically. Not everyone is given the opportunity to study the economy of the place in which they live, and any woman may fall foul of a wicked man who vowed before God to love and cherish her.’
    Was Madame Isabelle talking from experience? Shanni glanced at her tutor’s hand; she wore no wedding ring.
    â€˜Rich women with a fortune inherited from their fathers give up everything when they marry. They are owned by their husbands, most of whom treat a mistress better than a wife.’
    â€˜Why do women marry, then?’
    â€˜Some, like me, do not.’ Madame Isabelle shrugged. ‘But for others who are unequipped to look after themselves, what else is there? A spinster is expected to stay with aged parents, to tend and care for them until they die. Then she is forced to live on charity with relatives often reluctant to take her.’
    â€˜It sounds such an awful fate,’ Shanni said. ‘I will never let that happen to me.’
    â€˜Well, then, you must learn all you can,’ Madame Isabelle said. ‘Beginning with your piano lesson. Did you learn the little tune I set you?’
    Shanni sat on the stool and played the simple piece without faltering. Madame Isabelle watched in silence until Shanni lifted her hands then smiled knowingly.
    â€˜Ah, I see you have a good memory! You did not once look at the music, my dear, and you must learn the notes if you are to read music correctly.’
    Shanni played some scales and glanced over her shoulder. ‘We both know I will never be any better than adequate as a pianist,’ she said. ‘What I’m really interested in is putting right the