A Lesson in Forgiveness by Jennifer Connors Page A

and stuck their chins in the air. “We are his sisters. Why do you want to know?” Ginny didn't have the patience for their practiced snootiness.
    Turning first to the other children, she said, “The rest of you, out. Go back to the classroom and learn something.” When the kids didn't move, she screamed again, “NOW!”
    Five little bodies left with all undue speed. Turning to the maid, she said, “You had better keep an eye on them. You've undoubtedly heard the mischief they got themselves into earlier.”
The maid did a small curtsy and left the room. Now she could address the young Rodendales. First she walked over to Gerard, lying quietly in bed. “Do you remember what happened?”
    “I fell off my boat and then I woke up next to you.”
    Ginny smiled. “I had to go in and get you. Does this seem like something you ever want to do again?”
    Gerard's eyes grew to be saucers. “No, miss. Not ever again.”
    “Good. Then I expect that you won't be making anymore boats and trying to sail them unless you learn how to swim. Now, which one of you little monsters came up with the idea to lock your governess in the closet.”  Gerard at least had the brains to hang his head in shame. His two sisters, on the other hand, smiled as if to say: What are you going to do about it?
    Ginny grabbed the snootier looking of the two girls and promptly walked her to the closet and tossed her inside. The girl was so shocked that she didn't even fight back. After years of torturing their staff and getting away with it, they felt immune to any punishment. If they did something wrong, they would simply lie and their mother would believe them over the staff. Well, Ginny didn't care because she wasn't going to lose her job.
    Closing the door and locking it, she then turned to the other two. The girl in the closet was screaming bloody murder while Gerard and his sister continued to stare. Gerard's sister finally sputtered, “You... you can't do that... I'm... I'm... going to tell Mother!”
    “What are you going to tell her? That one of Lord Whitmore's esteemed guests, a young lady who he has spent a great deal of time, was torturing your sister by locking her in a closet. The same closet that that same little girl probably locked her governess in while her little brother went out to nearly drown in the lake. Is that what you would tell your mother?”
    The girl was speechless, which could not be said for the girl in the closet who continued to scream. Finally, finding her voice and sticking her chin in the air in a practiced haughtiness, she said, “No, I shall tell her that you came up here just to be mean to us because you are jealous of us.” Aaaah, the delusions of youth... how refreshing.
    A slow smile crept onto Ginny's face. “And when she is forced to go to Lord Whitmore with your accusations, who do you think he will believe. You or me?”
The light bulb finally lit up over the girl's head as she understood her position. Lord Whitmore had spent a great deal of time with Bethany, which would be translated as nothing short of courtship in the young pre-teen mind. When her mother went to complain about the woman he planned on making his wife, Lord Whitmore would undoubtedly listen to what Bethany had to say and then dismiss her mother's accusation. In turn, the humiliation her mother would feel would then be transferred to the children in the form of their mother's unbridled anger. Seeing her position and recognizing the hopelessness of it, the girl relented by bowing her head in shame.
    Ginny opened the door and the trapped girl came at Ginny with fingernails blazing. Ginny only had to turn slightly and put her foot out to trip the girl. Falling flat on her face, her sister quickly grabbed her up and held her back. She whispered into her ear and the little girl immediately calmed down.
    “Listen up. That goes for you too, Gerard. Because of your antics, Gerard almost died today. If I hadn't been there, he would be dead and