The Purpose of Miss Shepley

Chapter Nine (part III)

I was, at last, able to speak with my dear Miss Goodwin for a bit before dinner. The Grimmond children were deemed wild and in need of sport, and so we all spent the last hours of daylight beside the creek.

Miss Goodwin and I sat in the shade, watching while Earnest and his young siblings hunted for tadpoles and chased ducks. She helped me get them all straight: the eldest was Constance, already married, with a child of her own, then came Earnest and Temperance, then Honor, who was nine. Wisdom had just turned seven, and the twins were five.

A yelp stole my attention. Temperance laughed and pointed into the distance urgently, while Earnest slid and slipped along the edge of the creek in pursuit of some particularly evasive little creature. I felt a pang of sympathy for Stanley Blake -- Earnest's trousers were soaked in mud, hip to cuff.

He let out a triumphant, "Aha!" and then clambered back up the creek bank to show off his catch.

A few minutes later, Hope, one of the twins, came running toward us, shrieking. Earnest chased after her, shortening his steps every time she faltered or stumbled, so that he was only ever on her heels and never overtook her.

They ran three circles round us, til Hope took shelter in Miss Goodwin's arms, crying, "I won't kiss him! I won't!"

Earnest crooned, "But he loves you...!" He held something clasped between his hands.

I asked, "What have you got?"

"Here, have a look." He squatted beside me, making a gap between his hands. I leaned forward. A tiny frog wriggled out and leapt at me.

I squeaked, surprised, and the frog disappeared in a blur of movements I only caught from the corner of my eye.

Earnest cried, "Careful! Don't crush him!"

I froze, my hands hanging in the air til I spotted the frog nestled in the folds of my skirts.

It was the most perfectly tiny thing, hardly bigger than my thumbnail, gleaming green and bronze. It blinked and pulled its hind leg closer to its body, and then it was still, save for the breath swelling and shrinking in its throat.

"Oh, it's beautiful..."

Earnest smiled down at me. "I thought so, too."

He beckoned to his young sister, saying, "See? Miss Shepley's not afraid. Come and look."

Scowling and reluctant, the child climbed out of Miss Goodwin's lap and peered into mine.

We observed the little creature a few moments, til Earnest said, "I think it's time we let Mister Frog get back home..."

I scooped up the frog -- which was difficult; it hopped away from my fingers half a dozen times before I managed to catch it. Earnest took it, calling, "Come on, Hope, let's see if we can find one of the really big frogs."

Miss Goodwin nodded after Earnest. "His lordship is a very attentive brother."

She was leading me, in her way, but I was in no particular mood to be led.

"He's proposed to me already."

Miss Goodwin's expression turned carefully blank. "And may I ask what answer you gave him?"

"I haven't given him one, yet. A lot depends on Ewert." I shrugged, feeling somewhat helpless -- I was desperate to talk with her about Stanley Blake, but I worried that somehow their attachment had gone unobserved, and I'd betray Earnest's trust in me. "What do you think?"

"I think it is a superior match, and you should consider it very seriously," she said. Her tone was measured and her jaw was tight -- it was a familiar mannerism. I'd long thought it betrayed an effort to speak evenly, as if she knew her words were correct, and yet she did not like them.