Free Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin

where you are come to live. It is partly a charity school. You and I, and all the rest of us, are charity children. I suppose you are an orphan. Is not either your father or your mother dead?"
    "Both. They were killed before I can remember." It seemed an important distinction to me that they were killed and did not die by natural causes.
    "Well, all the girls here have lost either one or both parents, and this is called an institution for educating orphans."
    "Do we pay no money? Do they keep us for nothing?" Mrs. Reed
    53
    gave the impression she was taking great care and expense to send me away to school. Was it not so?
    "We pay, or our friends pay, fifteen pounds a year for each."
    "Then why do they call us charity children?" I took some offence at the word. I was not from a poor family. The Reeds could well afford to send me to a proper school.
    "Because fifteen pounds is not enough for board and teaching, and the deficiency is supplied by subscription. Different benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen in this neighborhood and in London give to support us."
    Perhaps Mrs. Reed was one who provided more than the fifteen pounds. "Who was Naomi Bokorhurst?"
    "The lady who built the new part of this house as that tablet records, and whose son overlooks and directs everything here."
    Mr. Bokorhurst indeed. The mere mention of him made me shudder. "Why?"
    "Because he is treasurer and manager of the establishment."
    "Then this house does not belong to that tall lady who wears a watch, and who said we were to have some bread and cheese?"
    "To Miss Temple? Oh, no! I wish it did. She has to answer to Mr. Bokorhurst for all she does. Mr. Bokorhurst buys all our food and all our clothes."
    "Does he live here?" I wished to avoid him as much as possible.
    "No--two miles off, at a large hall."
    "Did you say that tall lady was called Miss Temple?"
    "Yes. And the one with red cheeks is called Miss Smith. She attends to the work and cuts out--for we make our own clothes, our frocks and pelisses, and everything. The little one with black hair is Miss Scatcherd. She teaches history and grammar and hears the second class's repetitions. And the older one who wears a shawl is Madame Pierrot. She comes from Lisle, in France, and she teaches French."
    "Do you like the teachers? The little black-haired one?"
    54
    "Miss Scatcherd is hasty--you must take care not to offend her."
    "But Miss Temple is the best--isn't she?"
    "Miss Temple is very good and very clever; she is above the rest because she knows far more than they do."
    "Have you been here long? Are you an orphan?" I asked.
    "Two years. My mother is dead," she said with little emotion, as if it might have happened long ago or she had learned not to express her sorrow.
    "Are you happy here?"
    "You ask rather too many questions. I have given you answers enough for the present. I want to read."
    But at that moment, the dinner summons sounded. All reentered the house. The dinner was served in two huge tin-plated vessels, whence rose a strong steam redolent of John Reed's dirty old socks. I found the mess to consist of indifferent potatoes and something unidentifiable, possibly turnip greens, mixed and cooked together. I ate what I could and wondered whether every day's fare would be as bad. After dinner, we immediately adjourned to the schoolroom. Lessons recommenced and were continued until five o'clock.
    Soon after 5:00 p.m. we had another meal, consisting of a small mug of coffee and half a slice of brown bread. I devoured my bread and drank my coffee with relish, but I craved more. The girl seated near me offered hers in a listless, uninterested voice.
    "Don't you want it?" I asked. She looked so pale and thin. Her face had an odd, drawn quality that reminded me of Miss Abbot back at Gateshead.
    "No." A simple answer. Instead of elaborating on it, she walked away and left her food. I ate hers quickly in case anyone around me staked a claim. I wondered if Mr. Bokorhurst had enlisted her to the