Chapter 77

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: A New Life (8)
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“I’d sooner imagine her flying through the sky. What if she were to fall while doing something like that?”

Ian was displeased by Laura’s risk-taking behavior.

“Because that’s the only way she could earn George and Daniel’s respect. Just as hunting dogs need a master to tame them. Miss Pendleton figured that out the moment she arrived.”

“That to teach those boys anything, she had to be more of a trainer than a teacher.”

“Exactly.”

Mrs. Fairfax laughed.

“Now, Daniel and George are completely under Miss Pendleton’s thumb. I hear they gather flowers and berries every day to offer their teacher. They’re like puppies trailing at their master’s heels.”

Ian let out a short laugh.

“Olivia, too, pretends not to, but she’s completely taken with Miss Pendleton. She says her French pronunciation is no different from Mademoiselle Jeanne’s. She acted so prim at first, but now she subtly imitates Miss Pendleton. She even tries to play the piano like her, closing her eyes and tapping at the keys.”

Ian asked abruptly.

“And you, sister?”

Ian looked intently at his sister’s face.

“What do you think of Miss Pendleton, having seen her for yourself?”

Mrs. Fairfax paused for a moment, as if in thought. Ian didn’t think his sister was deliberating over Miss Pendleton. The sister he knew was not one to weigh and measure her liking for people. She either liked them or she didn’t. That was all.

Soon, she answered clearly.

“Miss Pendleton runs and tumbles about all day, sometimes even climbing trees like a squirrel. She’s completely different from the usual young ladies who sit hunched over their cross-stitching. With that kind of stamina, she could probably bear five children.”

“An assessment fit for a broodmare. What about her other qualities?”

“Well, as I said before, she’s a smart woman. Kind-hearted, too, and she understands you very well. That should be enough.”

“She understands me?”

“Yes.”

Mrs. Fairfax smiled.

“She knows you well. That you can’t offer empty pleasantries, that you’re prickly, fastidious, and have a disagreeable personality. But also that you’re not a bad person. If I were you, I would never let this opportunity slip, Ian. A woman like Miss Pendleton is rare. Especially for you.”

“I told you as much.”

Ian quietly took out the silver cigarette case from his pocket. He gently stroked the embossed pattern. It was a habit peculiar to smokers, needing to fidget with something related to tobacco even when they couldn't smoke.

“She will be mine.”

“To declare it so boldly, you must be quite confident.”

Ian smiled faintly.

“I’m the one who brought Miss Pendleton here. Do you think I went through all that trouble, playing the part of a Don Juan I’d never imagined and resorting to unsavory deception, just to have her act as a children’s tutor?”

He opened the cigarette case. Filter-tipped cigarillos lay in a neat row. He ran a finger over them.

“She must become my bride. And she will.”

“But how? I sense friendship from her towards you, but not love. And above all, she knows her own circumstances all too well. Even if her heart were to reach for you, she’s the type of person who would leave for your sake, rather than accept you.”

Ian narrowed his eyes. His sister, for all her carefree nature and obsession with peculiar superstitions, could be surprisingly sharp in her judgment of people at times. He gave a bitter smile.

“I’ll have to make her love me. So much that she’d rather die than leave me.”

***

Around the time Laura entered her first month at Dunville Park, a few changes had occurred.

First, Laura began to have proper lessons with Daniel and George. Laura would hide notes with the names of various English kings throughout the forest in the morning, and the boys would compete to find them and arrange them in chronological order on the ground. The boys, desperate for Laura’s attention, spent all day roaming the forest in search of the notes, and began using Laura’s books to identify the English kings and put them in the correct order.

Sometimes, while she was having lessons with the children in the forest, a new visitor would appear. It was Mr. Dalton. He mainly visited Dunville Park to sketch, and since his primary interest was in nature, they often crossed paths in the woods.

Every time she met Mr. Dalton, she felt both pleased and flustered. She was always a mess from running around the forest with the children. Her clothes would be covered in dirt and dust, and no matter how securely she fastened her hair in a net, a few strands always managed to escape.

He always appeared so suddenly that she never had a chance to check her appearance beforehand. She had no choice but to encounter him unguarded, like a squirrel that had suddenly appeared while passing through the woods.

Mr. Dalton was always a gentleman, regardless of her state. Perhaps he acted so nonchalantly precisely because he sensed her embarrassment over her appearance.

Whenever the boys disappeared to search for the notes of English kings, he would ask her about her daily life as she waited alone. He would inquire if anything was uncomfortable, or if his nephews were misbehaving. For Laura, life was without the slightest discomfort, so she always gave the same answer, yet he always asked the same questions. As if her convenience was his sole concern.

While the children were off searching for notes, they would sit together on a tree stump or a rock and talk. In the quiet of the forest, with only the clear, sharp chirping of mountain birds like the sound of a flute and the rustling footsteps of wild animals, they shared quiet, everyday conversations.

They had common interests. Dunville Park. The Fairfax family. Country life. For Laura, in particular, the feeling of country life was novel. She had almost no experience of living alongside a forest. Although she had lived briefly at the Pendleton family’s country house in her childhood, she’d had no leisure to enjoy anything there. She wanted to talk freely to someone about the fresh new feelings she was experiencing these days.

There was no one suitable at the Fairfax estate. The children were too young, and while Mr. and Mrs. Fairfax treated her with great kindness, they were still her employers.

But Mr. Dalton was her friend. She spoke to him freely about the feelings the forest stirred in her. The joy of treading on soil and leaves every day, and the sense of liberation she felt playing with the children.

Ian listened to every word. Throughout their conversations, his eyes held a look of understanding. He was a man who had grown up surrounded by the forest, living with it his entire childhood. And he had loved the quiet, beautiful nature all his life.

At times, Laura found the overwhelming sensations she was feeling so new that she couldn't properly express them in words. Ian would then put those feelings into precise language for her. Through Ian's words, Laura could organize her own emotions. In doing so, she realized that he felt the exact same way. An awe for the trees, the mountain birds, the spring water, the berries, and all the other members of the forest.

Sitting on a forest stump with Ian, breathing the air and sharing stories, the walls she had up against him strangely disappeared. It was a different feeling from their interactions in London.

They had been very close there as well. Their conversations over tea and during walks were always interesting and enjoyable. But there had been a certain line between them. The etiquette of high society, which a gentleman and a lady must observe, had acted as an invisible hurdle, governing their relationship.

But in these moments, sitting together in the forest, no such line existed between Laura and Ian. The feeling of sharing the same experience in a new space removed the wall between them. Laura let go of formality. Ian revealed a gentleness in place of his cynicism. The forest made it possible.

One day, Laura asked Ian to show her the sketches he had done so far. He readily showed her his sketchbook. The letter D was written on the cover, signifying it was the one he brought to Dunville Park.

Laura opened the sketchbook and soon found within its pages the elm tree she had climbed, the thicket where George had picked the butterbur berries, the swamp where they had observed the insects, and the small den where a fox had given birth and nursed her kits. Laura smiled and said that these were all the places Daniel and George had shown her. Ian said.

“Look at the dates.”

Laura’s eyes widened as she looked at a corner of the drawing. In the corner of each sketch, the dates of completion were written. They were all from fifteen to twenty years ago.

“These are drawings from your childhood.”

“Yes.”

“Are these the places you used to play with Mr. Fairfax?”

Ian nodded.

“The two gentlemen’s childhood playground has now become little Daniel and George’s playground.”

“Yes. I’m glad of it.”

Laura turned the pages one by one again.

“The depiction of the trees and leaves is wonderful. Even though you did this as a child. I learned to draw in finishing school, but my results were always so predictable. What’s your secret?”

“I only draw what interests me.”

“And?”

“That’s all there is to it.”

Laura chuckled.

“Don’t be silly.”

“I’m not. When I draw things that don’t interest me, the drawings turn out dull. Technical and predictable. My childhood art teacher’s lesson was that if you want good results, you should draw what you love. The more I draw, the more I find his words to be true.”

Laura looked at the drawings once more. The interest and care were evident in the depictions. Laura thought to herself. If one wanted to know what this man loved, one only had to look at his drawings.

The sound of rough footsteps came from a distance. Daniel ran up, drenched in sweat.

“Teacher, I found all five verbs!”

The boy fumbled in his trouser pocket and poured a handful of items onto Laura’s skirt. They were scraps of paper covered in dirt. Inside the notes were Latin words.

Laura examined the words, checking to see if any nouns or adverbs were mixed in. Miraculously, they were all verbs. It seemed he had diligently memorized the verbs from the Latin textbook Laura had shown him before they started.

“Well done, Daniel! You’ve won today!”

“Hooray!”