As soon as the bank loan came through after the agreement for the right of way was signed with the railway, John rode once again to Pembrook to settle the debt with Ezra.

It was with great satisfaction that John handed the bank draft to Ezra in his study.

“Huh,” was all Ezra said.

John couldn’t tell if he was pleased or not that his debt was repaid until he realized that Hollyoak was probably worth more than the debt, and now Ezra would be missing out on the windfall profit from the sale of the house.

“Two weeks early. How’d you do it, John?” Ezra asked as he accepted the payment. “I never expected you to pull it off? Did your bank finally relent and give you the loan?”

“In a manner of speaking,” John said giving no added detail.

Ezra studied him.

“You must be happy to get the mill repaired,” John said.

Ezra nodded. “Will you be staying for a spell?”

“I’ll overnight, but no longer. I have sheering come up and now I can begin work on the school. Hollyoak will finally be used as intended.”

“I seem to remember its original intention was to be for my Annabel,” Ezra said a little dryly.

“But that was not to be. However, it will still be put to good use.”

Just then Hester came into the study.

“Oh, John, I thought I heard a horse ride up. It’s good to see you.”

“And you, Hester.”

“And how is my adorable granddaughter? I so long to see her again. She must be… how old now?”

“Just five, and growing. She has a new nanny tutor who is doing wonders for her growth and education.”

“Oh, I am happy to hear that.” She turned to Ezra. “We must make a trip to Haverford soon. I do so long to see her, my dear.”

Ezra nodded.

Hester reached out and tapped John on the arm. “Do you play whist?” she asked. “I can find a fourth and we can amuse ourselves this evening. You are staying over, aren’t you?”

“I shall. It’s too tiring on the horse to make the trip both ways in one day.”

Hester took a little hop and clapped. “Oh, wonderful. It’s such fun to have a guest. We rarely do, you know. We are so isolated here amongst all these trees. La, I shall make sure we have something extra delightful for supper, shall I?”

She turned and bounced out of the room.

“You need to go out more,” John said with a slight smile.

* * *

As John passed Susan in the entryway lobby one morning she stopped him. “John, do you have a moment?”

He stopped and turned to her. “I do.”

“I’m happy to report that Elizabeth is growing by leaps and bounds. Not only physically but intellectually as well. But we have been cooped up in the school room for weeks on end. I think it would be greatly beneficial if she could play outside more. I have several ideas and I’d like your response.”

“Of course. What are you thinking?” He asked and directed her to the library. “Please sit and let me have your thoughts.

“Well, first I was wondering about a pony for her. She seems to evidence a fondness for animals and if she began riding now, as she grew, it would provide her both exercise and an enjoyment she could carry into adulthood.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea. And you have others?”

“And what about a tree house? As a young girl, my brother and I spent hours playing at the top of a tree in our very own house.”

“Might she be a little too young for that? And she doesn’t have siblings so it might be a solitary endeavor.”

“A good point and one I also wish to make. I think we need to find some neighboring children for her to play with. What about some of the workers’ children?”

John frowned. “I’m not sure about that. That may not be suitable.”

“Is it because they are workers’ children?”

John nodded. “It might blur the lines?”

“What lines?”

“Social lines. I’m not sure it’s quite right for children of a different class to be playing with a Duke’s daughter.”

“I see,” she said with a trace of disapproval.

“I’m sorry. You may not see things in the same way as I do.”

“Perhaps not,” she said, lowering her head and saying nothing more.

“There are some close neighbors I could approach,” John said trying to take this discussion in a more desirable direction.

Susan nodded. “Then if you will supply me with their names I can make arrangements for the children to get together.”

“I will.” John was feeling uncomfortable. He realized he’d offended Susan.

“And as for the playhouse, I thought if the two of you began planning it now, as she got older the two of you could build it together, and I believe the both of you would benefit greatly from that.

“And I would also like your permission to take her on some walks with me in the mornings. Not the extended walks I take for myself but, again, just to introduce her to exercise and the joys of nature.”

John added, “All of those are excellent ideas, Miss Susan. And it occurred to me as you spoke that a tree swing might also be enjoyable for her.”

“Oh, most certainly, John. I am so happy you agree.”

John smiled and nodded. And once again he found himself greatly enjoying looking at the beautiful woman before him. It had been a long time—far too long, in fact, since he had sincerely appreciated such a lovely lady.

“Miss Susan, you have my permission to do as you like with Elizabeth, and I shall make arrangements for a pony, a swing, and, if you remind me, I’ll find some time to begin treehouse discussions with my daughter. How does that sound?”

“Most excellent,” Susan said as she rose to leave.

John held up his hand to stop her. “Miss Susan, forgive me for my earlier comments on the workers’ children. I don’t mean to sound as if I find them inferior; it’s just that I need to keep a separation from my work life and my private life. Can you understand that?”

Susan seemed to consider that. “Yes, Your Grace, I can.”

Uh oh, John thought, she’s used ‘Your Grace’ again. She’s definitely not happy with me.

But she was so damningly appealing he could not be angry with her for even one minute.

* * *

Elizabeth had taken to walking in the morning with Susan like a bee to a flower. But there was much more stooping to examine something new, or picking a small bouquet of flowers, than actual walking. It was not unlike taking a puppy for a walk that needed to stop and smell everything, tugging at the lead every five seconds.

One morning Elizabeth discovered a mushroom, and like so many children decided to taste it. Unfortunately, Susan’s attention was diverted by seeing John approaching with his dogs.

“Good morning, John,” Susan called out as he neared. The sun was shining in her face and she put up her hand to her eyes.

“Susan, lovely morning, is it not?”

“Yes, lovely.”

John arrived and the dogs, seeing Elizabeth ran over to her, circling and sniffing. One of the dogs barked and looked over at John. He looked over at the dog and froze and blanched.

“What?” Susan cried out and turned to where John was looking.

Elizabeth was sitting on the ground eating what both she and John instantly recognized as a poisonous mushroom.

John raced over, knocked the fungus from her hand, as she looked up startled and began to cry. He kneeled down and stuck his finger down her throat and she began gagging and then threw up what she’d just eaten.

John looked up at Susan who had come over.

“Hopefully she won’t have ingested any of this, but take her to her room, put her to bed, and watch her. I’m going to ride for the doctor. Make her drink lots of water and let her vomit if she can.”

John picked Elizabeth up and he began running toward the house with the dogs at his heels. Susan ran after and as they neared the house, John handed Elizabeth over to Susan and he ran to the stable.

Susan ran into the house and told a kitchen maid, “Please find Aunt Clarissa and have her come to the child’s room immediately.”

“Yes, Miss,” the maid said, scampering off to alert Aunt.

Elizabeth was still crying as Susan put her on the child’s bed.

“It’s going to be all right,” Susan assured Elizabeth.

“Was I bad?” Elizabeth asked.

“No, honey, not bad, but you may have made your tummy a little sick. Your father’s gone to get the doctor and he’ll make you all better.”

Aunt Clarissa burst into the room.

“What happened?” she asked coming over to the bedside.

“Bad mushrooms. I’m afraid it’s entirely my fault. I wasn’t watching. John’s gone to fetch for the doctor.”

“Has she vomited,” Clarissa asked.

“Yes.”

“And do you have any idea how long she had it in her stomach?”

“Not long at all. I had only just looked away as John was approaching.”

Clarissa felt the girl’s forehead for fever. “She seems to be running a light temperature. Hopefully, you caught it quickly enough. Let’s get her drinking water.”

Clarissa went to the bedside table and poured a glass of water from a pitcher. She gave Elizabeth the glass.

“Here, my dear, drink as much as you can.”

Elizabeth took the glass in both hands and began drinking the water.

“I feel terrible, Clarissa. I should have been watching her more closely.”

“Susan, these things happen. She’s young and doesn’t know the danger.”

After emptying the glass Elizabeth said, “I don’t feel very well. My tummy hurts.”

“Lie back, honey,” Clarissa said.

Elizabeth lay back and Clarissa began to massage her abdomen.

“Does that feel any better?”

“A little.”

“How can I help?” Susan asked, obviously shaken by the experience.

“Let’s just sit with her. Maybe you could read to her until the doctor arrives.”

“That’s a good idea,” Susan said, finding one of Elizabeth’s favorite books and bringing it over, and sitting on the side of the bed to begin reading to her.

Soon, Elizabeth began to drift off to sleep.

“Is it all right if she sleeps?” Susan asked.

Clarissa felt Elizabeth’s forehead again. “She’s not getting any hotter. I think it might do her good.” She turned to leave. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

Within the hour, Doctor Hilliard and John arrived. The Doctor immediately went to the bedside and began examining the girl.

John stood back to watch. Susan went over to him.

“How’s she doing?” John asked her.

“She complains of a stomach ache and she’s running a low fever, but there have not been any signs she’s worsening.”

“Good.”

John kept staring as the doctor worked with her.

Susan put her hand on John’s arm. “I feel terrible. I feel this is my fault.”

“How could you say that?” J0hn asked turning to her.

“I wasn’t watching her closely enough.”

“Nonsense, you only turned away for a moment. I saw you watching her before you turned to look at me coming toward you.”

“But she was under my watch. She was my responsibility. If anything happens to her…” Susan began to tear up.

John put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him.

Doctor Hilliard turned to John. “I think she’s going to be fine. You were very quick acting and I don’t believe there will be any lasting damage beyond feeling bad for a few days. Let her sleep as much as she wants, and let her up when she wants to.” He stood up and went over to John and Susan. “Monitor her and let me know if anything changes.”

“We will, and thank you, Doctor,” Susan said.

Standish was standing at the door.

“He’ll show you out,” John said, and the doctor left with the butler.

Susan gave a sigh of relief and rested her head against John’s shoulder. He put his arm around her.

“It’s fine. Everything will be just fine.”

* * *

John had invited Susan to visit him in the library at three o’clock to discuss plans for the new school. And Elizabeth, now fully recovered from what was being called the mushroom incident, was taking her afternoon nap.

John was putting a book into its slot on one of the library shelves as Susan entered.

“There you are. Good,” John greeted. “Where would you like to start?”

“Where would you like to start? This is primarily your project. You must have some ideas about what you want,” Susan asked.

John walked to the library window that had his favorite view of the park and stood looking out with his hands clasped behind his back.

“I’m not an educator. I know very little about how a school is organized and run. All I want is what is best for my workers’ children.”

“Both boys and girls?” she asked.

“Of course,” John said turning to face Susan. “Why would I not?”

“I’ve found that most parents value a better education for their boys who must go out into the world to work. Many feel an education for a girl is a waste of time and money. Best just keep them in the house tending to the babies and making dinner.”

“That’s rubbish, and you know it,” John said a little sternly.

“Of course, I know it. But I needed to see what your outlook was. Thank you for clarifying that for me.” She gave him a teasing smile.

John wagged his finger at her. “You’re being naughty with me. Huh?”

“Only for the sake of the children.”

“Very well. Now that you have that out of your system, tell me about your teaching philosophy.”

“Where I was teaching before, the classes were organized boys of all ages in one class and girls of all ages in another. It is not a very efficient way of teaching, because no matter what level you are teaching at, there are always going to be older or younger children who are being left out of the lesson.

My idea is to have both boys and girls in a single class—only the classes will be organized by age groups so that you are teaching at the level of the class. It’s simple but it’s also revolutionary in today’s thoughts on education.”

“Hmm. Might that not be distracting to have boys and girls in the same class?”

“Are you suggesting the boys and girls are not at the same level of learning ability?”

“Not at all. I’m suggesting rowdiness and distraction. How can boys and girls study together without there being sexual distraction?”

“I agree there might be some distraction at first, but once the children get used to the idea, I believe that will disappear. And it might even stimulate healthy competition between the sexes to see who might be the superior students.”

John paced the library and thought about this proposal.

“Most interesting. But how many teachers would that require? I can see one teacher teaching a single sex class in the morning and the other sex in an afternoon class. But if you have the children separated out by age groups how would that work? Would there need to be a teacher for each one of those groups?”

“Yes, but the quality of education would be far superior. The teacher would have the class for a whole day, and without the distraction of having to be concerned with students outside the age group.”

“And how many of these classes do you propose?”

“Three—beginning, intermediate, and advanced.”

“So, there would need to be three teachers?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a much greater expense.”

“It is. But the children would benefit greatly.”

“Hmm. I will need to give this some thought.”

“Let me ask you, do you have a budget for the school?” Susan asked as she was becoming excited by the prospect of the school.

“Not yet. That is what I would like us to work on together.”

“Then would it be possible for me to see Hollyoak, now that there is no longer a possibility of losing it? It would help me think about the physical makeup of the school rooms. There may need to be changes and we would need to consider the cost of those changes.”

“Excellent idea. Why don’t we drive over there tomorrow afternoon, if you can arrange care for Elizabeth at about this same time?”

“What if we take Elizabeth with us? I think she would enjoy the outing. And might this not one day also be Elizabeth’s school?

“Yes, I think she would enjoy that. And maybe we could stop by the village and introduce her to some children of her age?” John added.

“You’d consider that? Children of another class?” she asked remembering their previous conversation on suitable playmates for her.

“Even I am susceptible to change.”

“Then I’ll be ready,” Susan said smiling.