Degrees of Hope (10 page)

Hope hadn't had a chance to yet.

“No,” Mary looked confused.

“Do you really think that I have so little to occupy me that I would spend my days gossiping about a man I hardly know?” Hope asked him.

James blushed a little. “No, of course-”

“Still I should hardly expect anything else from you.” Hope turned to Mary. “Mr Ashdown is of the opinion that woman are weaker intellectually. He is asking you if you have found the girls to be harder to educate than the boys.”

“Not at all!” Mary sounded surprised by the idea. “Why, of the top five students at this school, three are girls. It is a shame that many won't get to really make use their education as they will become housewives but then, many of the boys will have little use for their education if they become factory workers or farm labourers.”

“But a man must be educated if he is to make informed decisions,” James argued. “How can we give men the vote if they can't read a newspaper?”

“And what makes you believe that even educated men make the right decisions?” Mary asked. Hope was surprised that Mary was able to discuss this in such a calm way, but then Mary had always been a cool customer.

“I'm not sure I understand?”

“Your father is a very well educated man, is he not?” Mary asked.

“You know who my father is?”

“I read newspapers too.”

“Of course. And yes, I suppose he is.”

“And yet, despite his very expensive education and his 'better' intellect, he has made some shockingly bad decisions and lost most of your family's wealth. Do you really believe such a feckless man to be above women?”

“Well...” he didn't quite know how to answer that.

“I have met many men in my time, Mr Ashdown. Some are good, God fearing gentlemen. Others are mean, nasty and full of such depravities that it would probably turn your blood cold. My own father was one such man, seemingly determined to ruin our family for his own pleasure. Thanks to my sister, Martha, he did not succeed. Why should I, by accident of birth, be considered the property of such a man?”

“Because that is the way it has always been.”

“Yes, but it has also always been the case that the aristocracy rule over the masses by divine decree, and yet you want to give the vote to all men. Just because something is traditionally done a certain way, does not mean that it is the right way.”

“You are right, of course, but the Bible-”

“Is full of examples of strong women, as well as weak men, and Genesis states that men and women were created equal, that both man and woman were created in God’s image and shared the responsibilities of rearing children. He gave both sexes dominion over every living creature in the world.”

Hope was captivated by the conversation and desperately hoping that her aunt could finally make James see the error of his ways.

“There are a few examples, I will grant you, but God repeatedly says that a woman should look to her husband and obey him. Ephesians 5 for example, says,
'Wives, submit to your own husbands'
.”

“Ephesians also says that a husband should lay down his life for his wife, as Christ did for his church. I know of many men who would not be willing to do that, so in that instance, are women to disobey their husbands?”

“You are wilfully misunderstanding-”

“I don't think so. Galatians says that,
'There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus'
. All human beings are equal in the eyes of God, so I think it is you who are wilfully misunderstanding Christ's teachings, and interpreting them to mean that women are somehow lesser in the eyes of God.”

James could quote scripture all day but he knew that it would not win him the argument in this case. He smiled.

“You know your scripture.”

“I am an educated Christian woman, why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't other women be allowed the right to an education, so that they too might learn the scriptures for themselves?”

“It's a fair point, and I will concede that education should be available to all.”

“But you still believe that women are inferior to men,” Mary stated.

“I do.” He glanced sidelong at Hope and almost sounded sad as he spoke.

“Well, I can assure you that I have noticed no real difference between the girls and the boys in my class.”

“What do you mean by 'real difference'?” he asked, seizing on what he thought might be a weakness.

“I mean that each year is slightly different. In this year's new class for example, the girls seem to be surpassing the boys in their ability to do the times tables and basic maths problems, but last year they were about equal in aptitude.”

“What about reading and writing?” he asked.

“I have not noticed any significant difference.”

“What do you mean by significant?”

“I will tell you what,” she said. “This afternoon, you can give the youngest a spelling test. They are given 10 words a week to learn; you can pick any 10 words from the lists they have already been given and see for yourself how well they do.”

“That sounds fair,” he agreed.

When the children had finished eating, they were allowed to go outside and play and Mary showed James around the rest of the school, introducing him to the other staff, which totalled only four other people. A second teacher, two cooks who prepared the lunches and one assistant who was learning to become a teacher.

When the bell rang to signal the end of lunch, the children filed inside and took their seats in the main classroom. They went in age order, youngest at the front, and were divided into boys on the left and girls on the right. Each child had a slate that they wrote on, although Mary had explained that the older ones were allowed to use a nib and paper when practising their penmanship.

Already written on the blackboard were a number of sums, those on the left for the older children and those on the right for the younger ones to copy down and solve.

Mary ordered the first two rows of children to take their slate and chalk and go to the classroom next door. Mary left the other teacher to supervise, whilst she went next door with Hope and James to conduct his spelling test.

James was quiet on the ride back to his sister's house and Hope couldn't help but smile occasionally, although she did her best to hide her mirth.

It seems that in choosing some of the longer, more difficult words for his test, James had hoped to catch the girls out. Unfortunately, it backfired. Both sexes did well but the end results were that the girls had two incorrect answers among them, whilst the boys had four. 

It wasn't a huge difference, and it wouldn't be enough to convince Hope that women were in any way superior to men, but it certainly didn't do James' argument any good.

As they approached Arundell Hall, James turned to Hope, although he still looked grave.

“Miss Beaumont, I realise that you and I did not get off to a very good start,” James said, “but I want to thank you for the friendship that you have offered my sister. I was worried about how she would cope, away from her family and friends, but she speaks of you in such glowing terms that... well, you mean a great deal to her, so thank you.”

Hope wondered if he was being facetious but he certainly seemed sincere. Clueless he may be, but he did seem to genuinely care for his sister.

“You are very welcome. She means a great deal to me also.”

Hope drew the horse to a stop outside the house and James stepped down from the gig.

“I will not be here for very much longer, but I should very much hope that we can become friends before I leave.”

Hope wasn't willing to go that far.

“We'll see,” she said, urging the horses on before he could answer.

Chapter Ten

Hope saw James twice more before he left and on both occasions, she did her best to be accommodating, more for Honoria than anything else. She felt that Honoria had endured enough, and Hope didn't want to cause her any more worry.

To give James his credit though, he had been defeated twice now and had taken both instances with good grace. Hope admitted that perhaps he wasn't completely irredeemable. Still, that didn't mean that she wanted to be his friend.

The first occasion when he visited was for dinner with the Beaumonts. Malcolm was still in London and so it was just Honoria and James. They avoided talking about any sensitive issues and the evening went well.

The second visit was for afternoon tea, and because the weather was good, they had it served in the orangery. James was leaving in two days and Honoria was a little down-hearted, since she was going to miss him dreadfully.

“I will be back,” James assured his sister. “If not before, then once your baby comes. I promise.”

“Thank you.” Honoria squeezed his hand.

“I think we will all miss you,” Martha said. She had taken to him much easier than Hope had. He was misinformed in many ways but he was a pleasant enough man. Martha would take a thousand of James over one Malcolm. 

“Me too,” Hope smiled; she really was trying her hardest to be friendly.

“Thank you,” James smiled at her. Hope broke eye contact when it began to feel uncomfortable and looked out of the windows. James followed the direction of her gaze.

“Your gardens are quite lovely,” he told Martha.

“That's very kind of you to say.” Martha knew that her gardens were nothing special; they were not landscaped to anywhere near the degree that Arundell Hall was.

“I should very much like to look around them,” James said. “Perhaps Hope would be so kind as to give me a tour?”

“Of course.” This time, Hope's smile was genuine. He must have realised that Honoria was in trouble and wanted to speak to Hope alone, to spare his sister's blushes. She bade her dog, MacDuff, to stay where he was, which was curled up in a patch of sunlight. 

The orangery was basically just one large glass house and as such, Hope and James didn't have to worry about propriety, so long as they didn't venture too far away. In the distance Hope could see and even at times, hear her brothers playing. It looked as if they were having a mock sword fight with sticks. She smiled and glanced to James, who was oblivious the high jinks; instead he was pretending to admire the flowerbeds. Hope began to grow uncomfortable with the silence.

“Did you want to speak to me privately?” she asked.

“Actually yes. Yes I did.”

She waited a few moments, hoping that he would continue but he didn't.

“You look troubled,” she finally said, pausing and turning to him.

“Not troubled, exactly.” He looked down at her. “I wanted to talk to you before I spoke with your parents.”

Hope nodded encouragingly, thinking that he wanted her to confirm his suspicions about Malcolm before he spoke to her parents.

“I know that we did not get off to a very auspicious start, but I believe that you have warmed to me in recent days and well... the thing is, I... The first time I saw you, I knew that you were someone special and I cannot stop thinking about you. I wanted to ask you if you could consider-”

Hope's blood had turned cold as he continued to speak, and she realised that she had completely misread the situation.

“Stop!” she cried. “Please, I beg you, don't continue.”

“Why not?” he looked affronted.

“I am afraid that you have misjudged my attempts at civility, Mr Ashdown.”

“Misjudged,” he repeated. “My dear girl, I am trying to ask you to m-”

“I know!” she cut him off once again. “I understand what it is that you want to ask me, I simply wish that you wouldn't.”

“Why not? Most women of your age would be glad of an offer of marriage!”

“I am not single through a lack of suitors, Mr Ashdown, I am single because I have not yet met a man whom I can love.”

“So you enjoy breaking men’s' hearts!”

“No!” she was shocked by the accusation. Just like James, she had tried to let her other suitors know that their offers weren't welcome, but mostly they had ignored her and asked anyway. “I gain no pleasure from turning you down, sir; I only wish that when I do marry, it is because I am in love, not just because my husband desires me or my wealth.”

“I don't desire you, Hope, I love you!”

“You don't even know me!” she snapped, losing her cool. “If you did, you would have realised that your feelings were not reciprocated.”

James sighed. “Am I so awful a man that you cannot even contemplate the idea of loving me?”

“You are not awful, Mr Ashdown, but please understand, I could never consider marrying someone as wilfully blind as you.”

“Because I believe my Bible and place women behind men!” He sounded incredulous but whilst that was an issue for Hope, it wasn't what she had been thinking of.

“No! The blindness I am speaking of is with regards to your sister, and your wilful ignorance of her plight!”

“Marriage is a hard adjustment for some,” he tried to explain, although he was slightly confused over the turn this conversation had taken. “But I am sure that she will soon adjust and settle into her role.”