Chapter 73

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: A New Life (4)
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But as she returned to the manor for lunch, she slowly began to remember her duties. After finishing her meal, she asked the butler to summon the children to the study. Soon, Daniel and George, who had been tumbling on the lawn with the German Shepherd puppies their father had given them, were called inside. The three of them gathered in the study.

George and Daniel, thoroughly nervous, stared at the teacher sitting across from them. A kind-faced teacher with clear gray eyes and auburn hair pinned up neatly. There was nothing fearsome about her appearance, yet they were terribly intimidated. It was because of their uncle, who a few days prior had threatened to come and punish them immediately if they misbehaved with their new governess.

But Laura, oblivious to the boys’ thoughts, simply assumed they were nervous about meeting a governess for the first time. Laura decided to approach the children cautiously to help them relax.

Laura had intentionally brought no books, notebooks, or writing instruments. She had also deliberately turned the prepared blackboard to face the wall. It was obvious they would balk if she opened a book right away. She didn't ask them a single thing about their studies. She only asked how they usually spent their time, and what they liked and disliked.

The boys answered hesitantly. But as time passed and the teacher they had expected to torture them with Latin grammar said nothing about lessons, their tension gradually seemed to ease.

Above all, the teacher before them was watching them with a very gentle, smiling face. What boy could keep his heart firmly locked when a pretty woman was smiling and paying him such kind attention? They began to answer her questions freely.

She listened attentively to the children's stories. The boys liked fishing, swimming, gathering berries in the woods, making slingshots, and setting rabbit traps, and they spent most of their time doing just that. When they were at home, all they did was fill their hungry stomachs, tease the horses in the stable, and play with their father's hounds.

She asked if they had any favorite books, and they eagerly vied to name several detective and adventure novels. She asked them to tell her the plots of the novels. When they started to argue over whose turn it was, she had them decide the order with a little game.

The children, though somewhat distractible, knew how to tell a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. It was proof that they were not lacking in intelligence. And though they fumed when they lost, the fact that they accepted defeat showed their characters were not entirely unruly. Of course, they were rather hot-tempered, but that seemed to be a problem stemming from the lack of someone to patiently guide them.

She played a few simple games with the boys. A numbers game, a word-matching game, and a game of naming the successive kings of England. The children, unaware of their teacher's intentions and simply happy to be playing, threw themselves into the games with excitement.

Through the games, Miss Pendleton was able to get a concrete grasp of her pupils. The children were not lacking in intelligence. With no issues in their cognitive abilities, such as memory or reasoning, it seemed possible to instill some knowledge in their minds through lessons. The problem, however, was how to instill it.

Except when playing games, they couldn't properly concentrate on anything. They couldn't bear to sit still, constantly squirming and burying their faces in their desks. It was only natural, as they had never been trained to sit patiently and do something. How could she possibly put anything into the heads of children who couldn't even endure sitting like this?

Having ascertained the children's basic condition, Laura decided her work for the day was done and sent them back to where they had been playing. The boys bolted from the study, panting like escaped convicts.

Laura sat in a chair in the study and rested her chin in her hand. And she began to ponder how she ought to teach those children. Laura was facing a challenge common to teachers. She had been entrusted with children whose dispositions were the complete opposite of her own. Children whose personalities and upbringings could be called her polar opposites.

When a teacher takes on pupils so vastly different from herself, she stands at a crossroads with two choices. Would she make the children conform to her teaching methods? Or would she adapt herself to the children's temperaments? After careful consideration, Laura resolved to choose the latter. It was not because she lacked the confidence to make them conform to her, but because she believed it would be better for the children.

The school she had attended, under the pretext of raising cultured ladies, had forbidden any exercise other than dance class. In the warmer seasons, there were picnics in the countryside once or twice a month. Only then could the students finally move their bodies freely. She remembered those times as moments of happiness. Boating with friends, scrambling over rocks, playing tennis, and adorning their clothes with plucked flowers.

Looking back, it had not only been enjoyable but had also had a positive effect on her physical health. It was only after graduating that she realized there were a great many girls' schools that didn't permit even that much physical activity. Because of this, most ladies from prestigious schools were exceedingly frail. That was also why it was not uncommon for ladies to collapse while dancing at balls. Though in high society, this was sometimes accepted as a feminine charm.

But she secretly believed that the lack of exercise at girls' schools was a significant factor in why so many women died in childbirth. For that reason, Laura had often thought that if she ever became a schoolteacher with influence over the school's administration, she would have the students engage in more physical activity. For childhood physical activity was surely linked to health in adulthood.

In that respect, Daniel and George were fortunate. To be able to grow up running wild in the dirt and the woods with no one to stop them—was that not a great blessing? She wanted to let them play and be healthy, at least until they went away to school. After all, the Public School would instill discipline in them; until then, she wanted them to be able to enjoy their childhood to the fullest.

The next day, Laura took the two boys outside. She had asked them to show her the woods and river they loved so much. Thrilled that someone was interested in the things they loved, they took their teacher's hand and went into the woods.

The forest of giant trees was damp and dark, but fragrant. There, they showed her the hundred-year-old elm tree they always climbed, pointed out the marsh teeming with all sorts of insects, and the thickets where they set traps because rabbits were plentiful. She spent the entire afternoon walking through the woods with them, learning the lay of the land and finding out how the boys played there.

At first, she merely let them guide her through the woods and watched them play. But as time went on and the boys and Laura grew accustomed to one another, she stopped just watching. Instead, she began to play with them.

Chasing squirrels together, gathering acorns, building traps, fishing, playing hopscotch, and collecting insects.

At first, it was impossible for her to run as much as the children did. She was too frail to play with the energetic boys. It was only natural, for since graduating from her school, she had lived without any exercise apart from dancing at balls. When she returned to the manor after a full day of running, tumbling on the dirt ground, and climbing trees, her limbs felt as heavy as lead.

But after about a week, Laura's frail body began to adapt to the physical activity. As her body adapted, her mind changed as well. Before long, she began to feel a fresh sense of joy in playing tag with the children, drenched in sweat, and crawling into the dust to collect things. After running about thoughtlessly with the children for a while, her head would feel clear and her pulse would throb pleasantly.

She gradually came to like her pupils' activeness, which had initially been a source of concern. They were mischievous, hot-tempered, and rough, but as children raised in the dirt, they were strong in body and mind. They opened their hearts to their new governess, who had become their playmate, with surprising speed. For the boys, it was only natural; a teacher as pretty and gentle as Laura was taking a deep interest in the things they did.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Fairfax watched Laura's teaching methods, unable to close her mouth in astonishment. She had never imagined Laura would go to such lengths for the children. She was clearly a young lady of gentle birth, so Mrs. Fairfax had assumed she would teach by the book. That she would do word-matching games in the study, give tests, and occasionally coax the children with cookies or candy.

But contrary to her expectations, Laura ran into the woods with the boys every day, returning in the evening covered head to toe in dirt. Her clothes torn here and there, with leaves stuck to them.

Mrs. Fairfax knew full well why Laura was doing all this. She was well aware of how distractible her sons were and how they couldn't stand to sit in one place. Laura had noticed this on the very first day and had devised the most appropriate method for teaching them something. It was to earn their affection as an adult who understood them. That alone was enough for Mrs. Fairfax to know what kind of person Laura was.

*What a clever woman, Miss Pendleton.*

Olivia was just as surprised as her mother by Laura's teaching attitude, but she did not understand Laura's intentions as her mother did.

In her mind, a lady's conduct meant never losing one's dignity, at any time or place. To Olivia, it simply looked as if Laura had completely forgotten her former self as a lady. To lose a lady's dignity merely for the sake of earning money—it was absurd.

But this was merely a thought born of jealousy toward Laura, who had stolen her perfect uncle. In truth, she knew. She knew it was ridiculous to find fault with Laura for not behaving like a lady when she was no longer one. But Olivia had no other choice. Because aside from that, there was nothing at all to criticize about Laura.

Since their first encounter on the stairs the day Laura arrived, when Olivia realized she was, contrary to her expectations, a stunning beauty, her resentment had flared, and she had desperately searched for Laura's flaws.

But in the past few days, all Olivia had discovered was that Laura possessed a poised gait, a gentle way of speaking, and a refined demeanor. She was not just ladylike; she was as elegant as royalty.

Olivia, who had been trying to find Laura's flaws, only grew more anxious about her own situation the longer she observed her. Were all the aristocratic young ladies in London armed with such outstanding refinement? When she went up to London for her debut in three years, would she even be able to make her presence known?

Overcome with anxiety, Olivia devoted herself to her piano and painting lessons and began to read more books. But the anxiety did not subside.