“You’d be taken care of,” Mother continues. “You’d be safe from all this. Besides, look at some of the girls in the village, still at home in their twenties. Ask any of them if they’d trade with you, I know they’d say yes. Ask Abigail Fitzwilliam,” she adds, her voice tinged with sorrow.
“I thought—” I speak carefully, perhaps for the last time. “I thought perhaps I could go to school again. To become a teacher.”
“A teacher?” Father drops the leather. “What the hell gave you that idea?”
“I know you enjoyed school,” Mother puts in hurriedly. “But Rose. That’s a special thing, becoming a teacher. Those girls come from money, they come from better families. We don’t have a penny to spare, what with Tim doing so well.” Her smile grows tight. “Or would you have us ruin his chances?”
I bow m
